


Take me to church

by scamp23



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: AU, Clarke Griffin/Lexa - Freeform, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fake Marriage, Fluff, Multi Chapter, everyone needs a fake dating au, i am trash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:33:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scamp23/pseuds/scamp23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke proposes to an almost stranger to piss of the homophobic church protesters, but she didnt expect the news to pick up the story, and she didnt expect to fall for the stranger. </p><p>or <br/>Life is pretty unexpected, sometimes all you need is a fake fiance, 2 ridiculous best friends and a really really pushy news reporter, and all your dreams will come true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope its okay, any comments or corrections would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter One: We get cute assistants? 

*bzztzzz zzzbtzz* 

Bleary eyed, Clarke blindly reached for her phone in the dark, having already turned off 3 of her 5 alarms set to get her out of bed, prepared to hit snooze once more only to find the little display flashing up caller ID, ‘The Better Blake’. Clarke closed her eyes and answered as she burrowed further into the warmth of her blanket. Her roommate, best friend, business partner and the current biggest pain in her ass had already started talking before Clarke had brought the phone to her ear.  
“Get out of bed sleepy head” the altogether way too cheery voice sang through the line at Clarke, “hey that rhymed, I am a lyrical genius, I should open a label or something,” Octavia Blake was already distracting herself before Clarke even had a chance to say anything.  
“You are the next Taylor Swift, obviously” Clarke croaked.  
“Definitely not T.Swift, maybe like …Shakira? My hips definitely do not lie, let me tell you. And besides I couldn’t have a label,” Octavia said, “that would be like way too much work, maybe I should go into acting or–“  
“I am going to cut you off right there and say: is there a point of phoning me, or do you just want to make sure you’re the first thing I have to deal with in the morning even when you are not here?”  
“The latter, obviously”  
Clarke groaned into the phone.  
“I heard that you know,” Octavia was way too chipper.  
“I meant you to you know,” Clarke slowly sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes that were already protesting. Honestly the sun wasn’t even up yet.  
“I know,” still so damn chipper, “but anyway I am your wakeup call, because its 6:40 and you’re meant to be at the office at 7, and you never wake up. Ever”  
“I am awake now,” Clarke pointed out  
“And who do you have to thank for that?”  
Clarke could picture the shit eating grin without even having to look at the girl.  
“You, thanks. I will be down in 30 minutes.”  
“Make it 20 and I will get your coffee.”  
“Deal.”  
Clarke hung up the phone and tried to shake off the last of the sleep that was clinging to her limbs before hauling herself from bed and getting ready for work. She was ready in 10 minutes which, honestly, that was a record. She checked herself out in the mirror, her father’s wedding band hanging around her neck glinted in the dimly lit kitchen. She gave it a quick kiss for luck and tucked the ring under her shirt, grabbed a prepacked lunch and left the apartment, locking the door on her way out. 

The protestors had already set up for the day before she had even arrived at work. 7 in the morning was too early for Clarke to be awake, let alone have the energy to wave off the Church goers who were swarming around the building. Especially without coffee.  
She almost admired their dedication… almost. But the fact that the picketers were blocking her only entrance into the building, and that almost everyone present was holding homophobic and racially derogatory phrases made her want to admire her foot up their asses. Head down, Clarke pushed through the group, ignoring their sneers as she walked past into a large open foyer.  
Immediately the cool chill of the outside air was replaced with warmth and bustle and laughter, and Clarke immediately came face to face with a very tiny, very angry Octavia Blake holding three cups of coffee and visibly seething. This was a bad sign. Being partners with Octavia worked well; at Skyview Clarke could get infuriated but knew when it was and wasn’t appropriate to voice her annoyance. Octavia did not. This made the pair a perfect dynamic to deal with; Clarke understood how to work people and what goals needed to be achieved., while Octavia yelled at people who disagreed with Clarke. Their third partner, and final member of their power trifecta, Raven Reyes, was there to smooth out any problematic situation when Clarke couldn’t reason her way out of, or when Octavia couldn’t intimidate people into things. Raven was also the only person Clarke had ever seen successfully diffuse an Octavia-Bomb, preventing the tiny girl from bludgeoning an investor with a paper weight.  
By the time Octavia was within earshot, she was already mid-rant.  
“-the ever living fuck do they think they’re doing near our building? Do they know who we are? How much do you think hot coffee hurts Asshats?  
She looked down at the coffee in her hand, and Clarke gingerly took it from her before it could be weaponized.  
“O, we need to chill here. You go attacking them and it’s just bad publicity-“Clarke started,  
“While I would love to hear your logic behind that,” Octavia stared at her in disbelief, “How can we just let be there and not do anything?”  
“Well, we have a business to run, and one of the partners clawing out the eyes of a stranger probably won’t go down very well with the whole ‘trust us’ vibe we are trying to put out.”  
“But Clarke, they need to be taught a lesson,” Octavia whined.  
“They will be, just not by one of our leading ladies, and not with delicious boiling caffeine”  
“Ugh”, Octavia sighed but relented, stepping back from Clarke  
“Right, good choice. I didn’t want to bail you out again”  
“Oh my god, it was one time”,  
Clarke raised her eyebrow.  
“Okay, maybe not, but still. I wasn’t going to go that far,” Octavia shrugged and grabbed one of the coffee’s Clarke was still holding, taking a sip and grimacing. “Ugh do they not know what sugar is?” she took a few steps and dropped the cup in the trash.  
“O, I am pretty sure that was mine”  
Octavia judged the coffees being held by the taller girl, and picked another up. Taking a sip her entire body seemed to relax.  
“Oh my god that is good and sugary and beautiful” She commented nodding her head.  
Clarke just watched her in indignant disbelief “O, if I have to deal with you and that outside all day I am going to need my coffee”  
“Just drink Ravens, it’s still free so you can’t complain” Octavia said, starting to walk towards the elevator.  
She had nothing to say to that, so Clarke just wordlessly took a sip of ‘Ravens’ coffee and grimaced slightly at the over-sweet taste before moving to follow her ridiculous friend.  
Clarke didn’t notice she was stepping straight into the path of an oncomer. One second she was fine, next she was flat on her back, her coffee exploding like a firework. Clarke lay on her back trying to stop the earth from moving with her eyes closed. She could faintly hear Octavia raucously laughing somewhere to her left, and closer than that someone trying to talk to her worriedly  
“Miss Griffin?” Clarke grimaced slightly.  
Who the hell called her Miss Griffin? Did she turn 80 overnight without realising? Slowly she peeked through her fingers, and looked up into the palest green eyes she had ever seen.  
She couldn’t decide if they were the colour of ice, and sadness and sacrifice or if they were the colour of lightest grass, filled with warmth and strength. A mixture of both Clarke decided because suddenly nothing else mattered, she couldn’t imagine any colour looking the same ever again because everything paled in comparison to the pastel ocean depth before her. She blindly took the proffered hand and allowed herself to be pulled up from the ground, where she stared in silence for a moment and then uttered “ wow” softly under her breath and yet louder than she had intended. The stranger who stood taller than her by about a head, let the concern on her face slip into a half smile for a split second, and Clarke felt blown away just from that. The moment was ruined by Octavia sticking her head between the two and glancing between them in an over exaggerated slow motion movement.  
“Soooooooo, that was intense but we need to go, so Lex if you can let go of my colleagues hand we should probably you know, hop to it, unless you guys want to eye fuck some more, which you know, you probably have like 20 seconds before we are late”  
Clarke immediately snapped out of her reverie, and playfully slapped Octavia away at the same time as the stranger- Lex? - withdrew her hand and bowed her head in a nod.  
“Of course Miss Blake, I will see you after the meeting”  
“Thanks Lexa, if you can find Raven for me too that would be awesome”  
“Of course”, and with that Lexa, that was her name, moved out of Clarkes field of view, she barely had time to take in the rest of Lexa, with golden skin and long brown hair pulled into an intricate braid and a light blue button shirt done up all the way to the collar Clarke was stunned both literally and metaphorically. 

Once the beautiful stranger had disappeared, Octavia turned to her with a shit eating smirk adorning her face.  
“Who… was that? Clarke asked  
“That I will tell you if you get to this meeting on time, also you smell like latte”  
Clarke looked down at her fallen coffee cup and the mess covering half of her outfit and sighed heavily.  
“Well I have to change, so can you handle the meeting without me?  
“Yeah sure, but you owe me, I get to pick movies for the next two weeks” 

“No way, 2 days” Clarke deadpanned  
“From my point of view you are the one covered in coffee with nowhere to go, so 1 week and I will tell you all about who just bowled you over. In all senses of the word” Octavia grinned at her.  
“Deal, let’s just get this day over with”

Clarke had been home and showered and changed and got back to the office too late to catch the tail end of the meeting, but she wasn’t too worried. Octavia had Raven to back her up and the two could handle themselves well enough. She was sat in the foyer watching the protesters (now sporting signs god sees all. And what is that even meant to mean? ) outside with thinly veiled annoyance while she waited for her two partners to come downstairs. She was just contemplating getting herself a coffee seeing as she hadn’t actually drank either of the two early in the morning when a large cup was pushed into her field of view, blocking the racism from sight. 

“Sorry. About early” Lexa, the girl from earlier had appeared from nowhere, holding the biggest coffee Clarke had ever seen out in front of her like it would bite her if Clarke didn’t take it soon. “It’s for knocking over your coffee.” She said succinctly.  
“Uh thanks” Clarke mentally kicked herself. Way to go griffin. Smooth. She coughed “I mean like, you shouldn’t have, it was my fault, I ran into you”  
Lexa said nothing but shook the coffee teasingly at her, Clarke took the proffered drink and breathed in the fumes with a satisfied smile before taking a sip. Surprisingly it was her perfect coffee.  
“How did you-?” She left the question open ended, Lexa let out another half-smile and Clarke had to convince herself not to stare.  
“I get your coffee every morning, I know your order” Lexa told her as she took a seat next to Clarke, surveying the view outside.  
“Right. That’s. Um. Are you a stalker? Clarke almost had to stop herself from physically hitting herself in the head repeatedly. Luckily Lexa just laughed,  
“Not quite, I am Miss Blake’s- Octavia’s personal assistant” she told Clarke  
“Oh my god we get those” Clarke asked completely shocked.  
“Um, I think you guys get whatever you want, you are kind of the boss”  
“So every morning when Octavia walks in with coffee for me, and goes on and on about the lengths she goes to and how much I owe her….. You have been the one getting the coffee?” she asked.  
Lexa just nodded with her infuriating half smile and took another sip of her coffee.  
“That dirty little –“Clarke, was cut off as a flash of black hair whipped past the corner of her eye and Octavia sprinted, literally sprinted past the two of them barely sparing either a glance. 

Confused, Clarke watched as her partner made a dash to the front of the foyer and realisation set in.  
“Oh my god” She turned back to Lexa, “ Listen thank you so much for coffee, and for telling me we get to have cute assistants and for helping me up but I uh, I just really need to stop O from-“ Clarke glanced towards Octavia who had already broken three of the picketing signs and was threatening to shove the pointy end somewhere that god wouldn’t be able to see –“ oh god, stop her from ruining this business OCTAVIA BLAKE” She yelled with all the warning she could muster into a tiny tone. Stepping forward, only to be stopped by Lexa grabbing her hand, she just looked entirely amused at the whole situation  
“Why not just let her do her thing? She asked  
“Because she is going to be sent to prison again and honestly I so don’t need that right now, even though the stupid church deserves it and even though I think someone should teach them a lesson I do not think that it should be one of the OWNERS of the company”  
Clarke was babbling watching the whole scene play out, Octavia had abandoned her attempt at rear ending the Baptist Churchgoers with their own signs and was right in the face of the tallest looking guy there (easily 2 heads taller than the tiny girl) yelling about respecting private property and taking a look at their lives, and their choices and some other very rude words.  
Clarke turned back to Lexa and realised Raven had joined her in watching the spectacle, Lexa was still holding her hand and still had that subtle half smile on her face watching Octavia with amusement. Raven looked the two of them up and down with an appraising eye  
“Good to see you finally found some arm candy Princess, I want an invite to the wedding”  
Lexa and Clarke shared a blank look.  
“Oh come on, the sexual tension between you guys could be cut with a blunt pin, you should probably get a room, and then like...a house...and three really blonde really tanned kids”  
Lexa dropped Clarkes hand quickly, and Clarke tried to murder Raven with her eyes  
Raven, to her credit did not notice the silent daggers aimed her way, and just sighed and nodded toward the door  
“And I would love to stay to witness whatever history is happening here but duty calls.”  
Raven put one hand over her chest, and the other in a mock salute, before doing an about turn,  
“Reyes to the rescue!” With a quick turn and wink at the two girls still standing there Raven was gone and out the door to rescue Octavia. Well, to rescue the protestors from Octavia.  
Clarke awkwardly gestured in the direction of her second partner, “Um, that’s Raven”  
Lexa gave Clarke a small smile again “I know, Miss Reyes is usually present when I help Miss Blake with her work” she told her.  
“Wow,” Clarke held up her hands with a light hearted smile “you need to stop with that miss thing, it makes us all sound ancient, or like creepy teacher like. My name is Clarke”  
“Well, Clarke, as unprofessional as that is, I am Lexa”  
“Well Lexa, technically I am your boss so you have to do what I tell you”  
“Technically Octavia is my boss” Lexa pointed out with a sly smile  
“Technically I can kick Octavia’s ass so that makes me higher up than her”  
“You would have to prove that one I think” Lexa chuckled nodding towards Clarkes wayward partners, Raven trying to hold back Octavia who looked about ready to tear out one of the protesters throat.   
“Right, you will have to excuse me, Raven doesn’t seem to be handling your boss all that well” she gestured back outside were the chaos was breaking out. “I wish I didn’t have to stop them, honestly it’s good to see narrow mindedness get an eye-opener every now and then. Lexa nodded her head in agreement “I wish we were still young enough that making out in front of the protest caused a scene” Clarke told Lexa, “the good old days when you could kiss your friend right there just to say fuck you” she reminisced “ash high school” she chuckled to herself thinking of one her, Raven and Octavia had been in high school. “Now nothing short of a proposal would get to them” She laughed, turning to face Lexa who was still nodding along in agreement watching the scene outside. 

Clarke paused an idea forming in her mind.  
“I know what you mean.” Agreed Lexa, “but what can we do other than …apparently threaten them with physical assault”?  
They both fall into a silence, Clarke thinking wildly before  
“Lexa if I asked you to do something crazy would you say yes”  
“Um, well you are kind of my boss so I suppose I don’t really have a choice”  
“I thought Octavia was your boss? Clarke teased.  
“Well, if you don’t need me to help you…..” Lexa trailed off turning to leave slowly, smirk on face.  
“Just say yes” Clarke demanded, excitement bubbling in her stomach. Lexa had an equally excited, albeit confused gleam stirring in the depth of her eyes, eyes that had caused Clarke to notice her in the first place.  
“Yes,” She said confidently. “What do you need me to do?”  
“Excellent, I need you to say that, exactly the same, in a few minutes okay?  
“Okay?” Lexa was staring at her with complete confusion now.  
“Right brilliant, follow me” she grabbed the hand Lexa had recently withdrawn and started pulling her to the entrance.  
“Clarke? What are you going to do?” Lexa allowed herself to be dragged towards the protestors.  
“I am going to ask you a question” Clarke replied. 

As they reached the entrance, Clarke let go of Lexa and held open the heavy glass door with one hand, and used the other to take off her necklace, discretely slipping her father’s band into her hand and then into the pocket of her jacket. She allowed Lexa to exit first, and followed her out re-joining their hands and dragging her to the very centre of all the commotion.  
Raven had finally calmed Octavia down enough that there was no more yelling, and now they were trying to calmly tell the protester to leave. Well, neither girl was using words quite as nice as that, but they weren’t yelling either so Clarke had to allow a little pride for each at the restraint they were having.  
Neither party had noticed her or Lexa yet so Clarke turned slowly to the other girl, who was looking at her expectantly and gave her a quick wink while she clasped both hands and moved closer to whisper so only Lexa could hear  
“Trust me”


	2. The faux-prosal

“Trust me”

 

That’s what Clarke had told her, and for some reason Lexa did. She was having the strangest day at work. She had been ran into and accidently knocked over one of the most powerful people at SKYVIEW, only to find out that ‘miss griffin’ was not intimidating at all like she had imagined, but an accident prone bundle of adorable. And now, now she was outside in the freezing weather, next to her other two bosses who were trying to get themselves beaten up by Westbro Church protesters and using some choice language that Lexa herself usually reserved for emergent situations like the Bulls were losing or she was falling off a cliff.

A few months ago she had come for an interview at SKYVIEW, a company dedicated to righting wrongs and justice for all and of most controversially, pro-bono litigation for LGTBQ members of the community who couldn’t really find much representation in other law firms, It looked great on a resume and was wildly renowned for being run by the youngest students to ever pass the Bar. Even more exceptional, they not only were the same year level, they all came from the same school, Harvard.

Lexa’s best friend had told her about a voluntary position available with someone she had gone to Harvard with, and in Anya’s words… ‘working for three super young, super smart, super-hot Harvard grads is going to get you money, experience and laid, three things that you really need to get. Soon. ’Lexa had just scoffed at that, but nevertheless went for the interview Anya set up. Octavia immediately took a shine to Lexa, stating ‘you look smart and scary and smoking, the three main S’s to make it in this place’   
So she had been put to work.

Lexa quickly realised that Octavia wasn’t looking for an assistant so much as a protégé, unofficially of course, Lexa knew more about law and the legal system than she ever imagined as a child. She worked mostly from home seeing as Octavia very rarely herself was at the office, preferring to meet clients in more high-class establishments. When she did go into the office, usually during the morning, she picked up coffee for her three bosses and helped Octavia out with her paperwork. Early on Octavia had asked her not to call her Miss Blake, just because, ick, and Lexa had realised this was the easiest way to tease her boss. Good naturedly of course. . Octavia was the only one she knew well, Raven she had seen around now and then, but she had never met Clarke Griffin.

She had heard of her of course, the youngest of the three, how she was the youngest person to ever file an Appeal against the Supreme Court and have it accepted, how she charmed everyone with her wit and smarts, how she had been a medical aficionado and everyone expected her to be a big shot surgeon like her mother and at the last minute had called it off and joined Harvard. Lexa had heard of her, and when she finally met Clarke she thrown off guard by how completely _human_ this woman she had heard stories about seemed. Clarke wasn’t some big shot fancy pants, she was clumsy, and beautiful, and had managed to make Lexa smile after a few minutes. Which was rare.

So, now here she was standing outside in the cold, with the clumsy and beautiful and smart Clarke who had just _winked_ at her, and Lexa didn’t even mind that her cheeks were going red or that everyone was staring at them because Clarke looked entirely too adorable with a giant grin covering her face.   
Clarke took her hand from Lexas, and Lexa immediately felt the warmth that had been encompassing her be replaced by the cool breeze, but she didn’t get a chance to feel upset at the loss because Clarke was shifting down onto one knee.

Lexa wanted to ask what Clarke was doing, tell her that she should stand up, her knee must be very cold and there _is_ snow on the ground, but instead she just took in the sight before her.   
Clarke was looking up at her, eyes shining with excitement, the kind of blue that makes you think of summer days by the beach and good music and laughter, pale white cheeks tinged with red from the cold, and long golden hair falling into her face from one side urged on by the cool breeze whipping around them. She was completely taken aback by the sheer brilliance of the girl before her and it took her longer than she would like to admit to realise what was happening. It took her less time than that to decide to play along

Clarke was getting cold on the ground, but she didn’t feel it from the excitement at the sheer cheek of her plan. Lexa brought one hand up to her mouth to feign surprise, and they both stood there for a moment as slowly silence claimed the area around them. Clarke didn’t look away from Lexa but as soon as she thought all eyes of the protesters were on her and Lexa she reached up to the taller girl’s free hand and clasped it tightly in both of her own.

“Lexa-“Clarke made her voice crack convincingly, mentally high fiving herself for not sleeping through drama class in high school. “From the moment we met, you have knocked me off my feet” she grinned up at Lexa who had laughed into her hand. “I remember feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me, like my entire world was spinning and then you took my hand and the world just stopped moving.” Clarke paused here to glance around, all the protesters were staring at them with something akin to disgust, and Raven and Octavia were staring at them in open mouthed shock. Turning back to face Lexa, Clarke continued. “Honestly I don’t know how I spent each day before I met you without getting to stare into your eyes, or getting lost in your voice. You make me feel like I am floating and you keep me grounded” Clarke thought she was being pretty convincing and was impressed with Lexa who had fully risen to the challenge and was staring at her unabashedly, with adoration in her eyes.

“Lexa, I want to spend every minute of my life making sure every second of yours is perfect, I want to love you and be there for you and always remind you that you are the single most interesting thing in this universe I have come across. So-“Clarke took a deep breath like she was nervous. She reached into her pocket and held onto her father’s ring tightly. She paused for a second pretending to wipe away a non-existent tear from her eye. With a deep breath she held out the ring.

“Lexa. Will you marry me?” Clarke finished.

Lexa had been listening so intently she almost forgot she had to answer, she almost didn’t want to say anything to distract anybody from the speech Clarke had just given. She almost didn’t want this to end. But she steeled herself and locking eyes with Clarke, she allowed a tear to slip down her cheek slowly,

“Clarke, I-, Yes” she shakily breathed before Clarke broke out into the largest smile Lexa had ever seen, and slowly guided the ring onto her finger.  
Lexa was astounded at how real and scary this felt, Clarke looked as if Lexa had just made her the happiest girl in the world, and Lexa felt warm because of it. She liked making Clarke look that way.

Clarke stood up and pulled Lexa into a tight embrace, and she didn’t even hesitate to return the hug, Lexa looked around at the protesters who all had fury adorning their eyes, Octavia was wiping way a fake tear, and Raven had a little video camera out and was recording and honestly where did she even get that? That’s when Lexa was struck with an idea. Still holding onto Clarke tightly

“Just like high school” she whispered into the blonde girl’s ear

Clarke pulled away to look at her curiously, and Lexa echoed Clarke from earlier.

“Trust me”

Lexa tried not to think too much about the fact that this was her boss, that she was probably feeling a bit too comfortable in this hug, that she had butterflies in her stomach she hadn’t felt in a while, she ignored all of those facts and focused on the warmth she could feel emanating from Clarke, the tremble she could see adorning the other girls lip, the slow glance of eyelids down so subtle you could have missed it. She felt her heartbeat falter for a second, before hammering at twice the rate it normally does, she felt the excitement build in her stomach and she felt all of this in a split second. Without waiting any more Lexa wrapped one of her arms around the back of Clarke’s neck and with closed eyes pulled the smaller girl into a kiss.   
  
She felt Clarkes lips against her own, so soft, she could feel tiny flecks of ice that had stuck to Clarkes bottom lip, they were cold against her skin but Lexa didn’t mind, her whole body had been filled with warmth and it felt like something clicked into place. She felt her entire body weight lean into Clarke, and Clarke lifted her arms to steady them both. Lexa wrapped her arms tighter around Clarke as they stayed locked in their moment. Eventually Lexa slowly pulled away, Clarke noticed the small half smile still present on her face, and she felt as if time was standing still, there was no one and nothing else in the world that mattered except those eyes and that half smile.

That’s when reality kicked straight back in.

“BLASPHEMY, GOD WILL SEE You ANSWER FOR Your SINS”

Lexa broke eye contact with Clarke, and Clarke quickly stepped away from Lexa, hands linking almost subconsciously, the two took in the scene around them. The protesters seemed so angry if this were a cartoon there would be a vein sticking out of their temple and spittle flying from their mouths. Actually Clarke could see a little spittle coming from a big beefy gentleman who was over in the corner. The two girls glanced over at each other and for a few seconds there was silence, and then Clarke burst into raucous laughter, which made Lexas half smile return

Raven and Octavia made their way through to the two girls. Octavia looked between the two of them like a strict mother.

“Well you both have some explaining to do”

“And some sharing” Raven added

“Ray!” Octavia glanced at the taller girl disapprovingly.

“What, I said from the beginning, your assistant was hot” she shrugged her shoulders   
Lexa appraised Raven with a cool eye, and nodded self-assuredly as If she had never heard a truer statement.

“Boss number 2 knows what she is talking about” she said,

“whoa whoa whoa, boss number 2? No no no I am definitely boss number 1, or like boss bootylicious? Boss bomb ass bitch? I don’t care” Raven looked at Lexa pointedly. “But not boss number 2, you are not hot anymore”

Octavia and Clarke shook their heads

“Boss bomb ass bitch?” Clarke asked

“Well we can’t call me ‘Boss-better-than-the-other-two-smarter-and-also-prettier’ can we now” Raven said sticking her tongue out at Clarke.

“How about we just call you Raven?” Octavia placated

“Awwww but that’s boring” Raven whined in a high pitched drone

“How about we get out of the cold and raven deals with whatever name Lexa gives her”

Clarke said moving towards the front of the building to enter the warmth once more only to be stopped by someone calling her name.   
  


“Clarke Griffin! Clarke Griffin!” a tiny young girl walked up to Clarke and Lexa before they made it to the safety of the warm building. “ hello girls sorry to interrupt, My name is Alexis Piston, I am a reporter for Channel 9 news, I just got that little stunt down on camera and I would love it if I could talk to you girls about maybe doing a special. It was just so brave of you two to do that, and so risqué as well, I loved it. And lucky for you my manager does to, he wants to set up a whole segment to follow the wedding! It would be great publicity for you law firm and for LGBTQ everywhere. Here is my phone number, I will have my people call you and set something up okay darlings. Watch Channel 7 tonight for the opening segment! Thank you, toodles”  
And then she was gone.

Clarke, Lexa, Octavia and Raven all looked at each other equally confused.

“Did she even breathe just then?”

“Well fuck”

“What just happened?”

“Seriously I don’t think she even took a breath”

“How did she leave so quickly?”

“Fuck”

“I bet I could hold my breath that long”

“is she on drugs?”

“Seriously. Fuck”

“What just happened!?”

“am I on drugs?”

“Mmmb mmb mmb mb”

Raven had puffed out her entire face in an exaggerated balloon to signify that she was holding her breath and couldn’t talk right now. Octavia turned to the other two girls.

“Well, it looks like you ladies just get engaged” She clapped her hands together, “so, I suggest we go back to ours and figure this out”

Lexa hadn’t really said much since the reporter had come over, but she nodded apprehensively, and Clarke took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze which seemed to put her at ease a little bit. Octavia watched the exchange and sighed before bringing her hand up to her face and shaking her head.

“We are going to need vodka.”


	3. Pyjama parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its moving a long slowly, sorry about the wait. I am a law student so don't have all that much free time. Enjoy

Chapter Three: Tequila Mockingbird. 

Octavia had hustled the three girls all the way to the shared apartment of the three partners, Lexa following a little hesitantly behind as they walked the 2 blocks from Sky-View.  
As Octavia unlocked the door, she pointed directly at Clarke. 

“Drinks. Go.”

Clarke didn’t even bat an eyelid, but immediately turned tail and walked into the next room while Octavia turned her eye toward Raven,   
“Blankets, pillows, Go.”

Raven had given a mock salute and followed Clarke out of sight. 

Left alone in the hallway with her boss, Lexa felt entirely out of place. She hovered awkwardly until Octavia gave her a reassuring smile. She tried to let herself relax a little, and fought to remove the tension from her body. She watched the smaller girl gesture that she should be followed and then guide Lexa into a lounge room. There were the largest couches Lexa had ever seen making a rectangle in the centre of the room, various dark oak book cases against one wall, and a large T.V mounted on the far wall. One side of the room was entirely glass, with a door leading out onto a balcony that showed the entire city twinkling away beneath them. The view took her breath away.

“We are about to get to know each other a lot better Lex” Octavia teased, guiding her with a firm hand over to the gigantic couch.

“Sit” 

Lexa sat.

" good girl, now stay” 

The shorter girl held up her hand i up her hand in a ‘stay’ gesture as she backed away from lounge room, until she eventually disappeared out of sight too. 

Figuring there was not much she could do until one of the other girls, Lexa tried to calm herself. It was totally normal to get fake engaged to your super attractive super successful boss, and then go back to her apartment she shared with your two other super successful, super attractive bosses right? Not really. Lexa took a deep breath. Then another. Honestly she had not expected a usually atypical Friday to result in this. She is not sure if she is engaged? Kind of? She is not sure what was expected of her right now, and there were a thousand questions going through her mind. She wasn’t worried about coming out, Lexa had known she liked girls since 8th grade when Elizabeth Gentry had held her hand during chemistry class. She was a little worried about a faux-marriage though. That was the epitome of moving very fast. Lexa had always taken a logical approach to her past attempts at relationships, not that this was a relationship, but usually it took her several months to even stay the night at a person’s house and even then, not many people made it to that point. It’s not that she didn’t like people, she just didn’t really care for the overly attached. Anya had always told her she needed to let her guard down, but what’s the point of letting down your walls if there is no one worth seeing what you have been guarding? 

The problem was that every time panic rushed up and clutched at her throat making it hard to breath, she saw Clarkes face. Just after the sham-prosal, Clarke had looked at her with shining eyes and a goofy smile and with such tenderness and excitement, it made her stomach do flips just thinking of it, it made her feel warm. No one had ever looked at her like that. Not for a very long time anyway. She knew Clarke was just acting, but picturing the happiness on the other girls face her panic died down and her mind stopped racing quit so much. That should probably have worried her, but for once, Lexa decided to just go with it. Anya would be proud.   
The only thing she does know was that she had had fun today, that she had laughed and smiled and enjoyed herself, and that was a rare thing. It was like when she knocked Clarke over, she had fallen too. She just didn’t have the bruise to show for it. 

Lexa was saved from worrying as Octavia returned, having changed into a small pair of sleep shorts with mini mouse print all over them, as well as a matching tee, snapping Lexa out of her musing.

“Enough twiddling of thumbs Lex. Get changed”

Octavia threw a bundle of clothes at Lexa before sitting down on one of the single sofa’s across from her.

“Whats wrong with what I am wearing?” 

Lexa asked arching her eyebrow.

“What you are wearing is not pyjamas” was all she got in answer.

“O likes to have pyjama parties and pretend we live in a sitcom” 

A pile of blankets entered through the door teetering precariously, which Lexa realised from the muffled voice was hiding Raven. Octavia was nodding along to that statement before pointedly looking at the clothes she had thrown to Lexa and then at Lexa herself. The Raven/Blanket pile moved over to the single couch O was sitting on and proceeded to collapse completely on top of the smaller girl who let out a loud squeal. 

“You had better do as she says-“Ravens head popped out from the blanket pile, purposefully ignoring Octavia who was trying to escape from underneath all the bedlam. Pretending not to notice the inconsequential flailing she continued, “- or we will have to deal with sad O all night, and you don’t want to see sad O”

“Bathroom?” Lexa asked, she had told herself she was just going to go with things tonight, so she steeled herself and stood up from the couch. Raven who was struggling trying to keep all of the blanket covering Octavia who was fighting to break free pointed out the door towards the hallway. 

“That way, right, left straight to the end” She heard from underneath the squirming pile. 

She nodded and left the two girls to their makeshift wrestling match, taking more note of the hallway she was walking down this time around. The most noticeable feature being that stretching all the way down the hallway, a collage of photos was strewn haphazardly across the walls. Lexa looked at the closest photo to the doorway and could easily recognise her three superiors in the polaroid despite them all being much younger. Looking about 8 or 9 years old, the three girls were posing together ridiculously in front of a summer camp sign. Octavia was proudly in the middle, dirt patches covering her face and hair frazzled, but the tell tale gleam in her eye as well as the dusting of freckles across her cheeks gave her away. To her right she assumed was Raven, sticking her tongue out at whoever was taking the photo, when arm hung around Octavia’s neck, and on the other side, a younger Clarke Griffin, golden hair shining in the sunlight and caught in the middle of laughter at Ravens goofy face. ‘New friends’ was written in marker across the bottom of the picture. 

She thought it was beautiful they had all known each other for so long, and seemed to be as close as they were. Its not often you can find people you click with and they stick around. Lexa found herself feeling happy for the fact they all had each other.   
Continuing down the hall, each polaroid she looked at was some combination of the three girls, every few pictures the same summer camp sign poked up and she could watch the girls grow up the further she walked down the passage. Most photos were posed, some looked as if they were taken by accident, the three girls huddled around a campfire, depp in conversation obviously unaware that they were being photographed. Lexa almost felt she was intruding into the girls lives, they were all so intimate, she felt as if she was peeking at something important she hadn’t earnt the right to understand yet. The further she walked the older the girls got, half way down Lexa paused again at a now 18,19 year old trio, posing almost identically to the first picture only the summer camp sign had been replaced by a ‘Harvard’ Campus sign. “New adventures” was scrawled messily along the bottom.

From Harvard, the photographs lost their linear progression, but still Lexa could see each picture was chosen for a reason. The three girls were often joined by recurring characters, popping in and out of the frames at random. Lexa saw the girls life from the images on the wall, and she envied the girls for the mere fact of how close they seemed. She had Anya, who had been her rock but they were never as close as this mismatched gang seemed to be. She had almost reached the end of the hallway when she came across a photo of Clarke by herself. None of the other pictures showed any of the girls by themselves and Lexa took some time to study it.   
It couldn’t have been taken too long ago, Clarke looked almost identical to how she does now, a little more relaxed, and she was holding onto a piece of paper and smilling at the camera with the same expression that had been running through Lexa’s mind since she had been proposed to . It was a smile that promised excitement, and wonders and the kind of smile you cant help but return. That kind of happiness exuding from the girl was tangible even from the picture alone. It made Lexa’s become beautifully aware of her own heart beating in her chest, and she barely even noticed her own smile reading the caption at the bottom. ‘Sky-View, no longer a pipe dream!’   
The entire progression from children to business owner had shown Lexa that these girls were more than just partners in a firm, they had been through heaven and hell together. It kept her smiling all the way through retreating to the bathroom, and changing into what were, the most ridiculous pyjama bottoms she had ever seen. They were bright green flannelette, with tiny army men and tanks covering them. Not exactly something she would expect Octavia to own. Lexa was just glad she had been given a black tank top instead of a matching green shirt. 

***  
In the next room, Clarke had been worrying away at her lip trying to stop her mind from spinning too. This news story could be amazing publicity for the firm, or terrible. If they continues with a fake engagement what would that mean? Clarke figured it would mean do like an interview or two, and that could be easy enough. Lie a little bit, have an excuse to hang out with Octavia’s really quite cute assistant. And if they came out that it was a sham that would probably look bad. They were probably all over the news, and explaining that they were joking might not go over too well for the firm. She also had to think of whether Lexa even liked girls, I mean she had gone along with the whole scenario but Clarke didn’t really offer her much of an alternative, and she had a habit of assuming everyone liked people as much as she did. She had the added problem of actually liking this girl, and it could be so simple to take her out, and get to know her better, but fake engagement and news coverage didn’t spell simple. Clarke returned from the kitchen laden with supplies, worry gnawing at her still. Octavia and Raven were in the middle of a tumbling match, but as Clarke entered they both paused and stared up at her. She shuffled over and dramatically fell on top of the both of them with a heaving sigh. 

“What do I do guys?” she asked of the other two despondently

“Sex her brains out” Raven answered almost immediately from underneath Clarke, only to receive a smack from Octavia. 

“Ow!, hey!” She said indignantly, “ I am just saying, you are already engaged to the girl” 

Clarke sighed some more and rolled off her two friends, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. 

“We didn’t actually get engaged Raven” 

“Channel 7 thinks you did” Raven told her also rolling, a little less gracefully, off of Octavia. 

“So does Bellemy” Octavia pointed out

“Wait! What!?” Clarke gaped

“Raven may have filmed you a little bit” O shrugged at her

“Raven!” 

“And then she may have sent it to everyone we know,”

It was Clarkes turn to hit Raven now

“Owwwow! How about we stop beating up Raven?” she said rubbing her arm

“How about we start figuring out how to save Clarke from the messes she makes” Clarke threw her arms over her face to muffle the frustrated noises coming from her mouth. 

“How about we just have a good old time, paint our nails and drink our weights worth of expensive liquor and deal with this all when we are well on our way to our first AA meeting?” Octavia suggested

“Good plan”

“excellent idea” 

“I know, that’s why I am the smart one” Octavia smiled smugly. 

Clarke and Raven both glanced at each other before both throwing a pillow directly at the smaller girl in perfect synchronization.

“Not fair!”   
**********  
When Lexa returned to the lounge room, after steeling herself for a moment in the bathroom and giving herself a mini pep talk, channelling her inner-Anya, Lexa noticed that the entire room had been given a makeover. The couches had been pushed aside, making way for a cocoon of blankets and pillows strewn into a chaotic circle that was home a pile of random items. Octavia and Raven had managed to untangle themselves and Clarke was now present, in similar shorts to Octavia, only hers were sporting Mickey Mouse. It was cute how they were matching. The three friends were spread around the bottles in the middle in a triangle, and Lexa walked over slowly sitting down opposite Clarke.   
Lexa looked on what Clarke had gathered on her ‘drinks’ expedition with apprehension. She thought Octavia had been joking earlier in the day, but looking at the pile of liquor collected between them she could tell definitely not. Vodka, tequila, bourbon, Cointreau, all of it the expensive top shelf kind that Lexa had stared at wistfully as she purchased her plastic bottle $12 vodkas. As well as the variety of alcohol, there were marshmallows and chocolates and nail polish and board games. She guessed Raven wasn’t kidding about pretending to be a sitcom. Did they really plan on painting each other’s nails and talking about boys. As soon as one of her bosses mentioned the words pillow and fight, she was out. 

At the arrival of Lexa, Clarke turned her attention from Raven, Raven who was clad in bright pink flannelette jammies that Lexa had never ever pictured her wearing, or owning, or even being in the same vicinity of, and who was also currently trying to fit as many marshmallows as she could in her mouth to the amusement of Octavia. Clarke could physically feel her jaw drop as she took in Lexa in a tank top. Clarke had thought she couldn’t get more attractive in a button down, but the slim fit shirt showed off the other girls previously hidden figure. Lexas arms were prominently toned, and an intricate swirling tattoo spanned the length of her shoulder and all the way across her upper arm, curling around the girls bicep. Clarke could feel herself begin to overheat. 

As distracted as she was, she didn’t really register that O had stopped laughing at Raven until she felt the slighter girls hand gently placed on her jaw to reposition it to a closed position. Distracted as she was, it was only when she felt Octavia’s hand on her chin and gently pull upwards so that Clarke's mouth came to a closed position that she snapped herself out of her shameless ogling. Lexa seemed a little redder in the cheeks, and as Clarke glanced at her friends she saw Raven give a subtle thumbs up and Octavia shaking her head despondently at the two of them 

“So, now that we know Clarke has no control of her gay-“ Octavia started, “And that Raven is an enabler” She looked disapprovingly at her two companions “ I would like to informally introduce myself.” She placed a hand over her chest, “I am no longer Miss Blake” she told her assistant pointedly. “ I am O, badass lawyer, expert matchmaker and smartest of the Sky-View trio, and you, Lexa Woods are being welcomed into the fold.”

Lexa was being stared at by the three girls now, Octavia expectantly, Clarke apologetically and Raven, appreciatively. 

“Am I about to join a cult?” she joked

“She is on to us, damn put away the candles girls, i will have to cancel the horse head we ordered” Raven winked at her.

Clarke, feeling sorry for the girl, tried to explain a little.

“When we all met, at this summer camp we went to, O made us stay up all night and swap scary stories and tell secrets and typical bonding stuff. Now she likes to think that you can’t hang out with us unless you have had your Trio Experience” 

“I still think that sounds like a bad porn movie”

“Shut up Raven”

“As we got older and discovered drinking, these nights have gotten a lot more fun” she explained, ignoring Octavia’s offended gasp and grumble that sounded like ‘they were always fun’ .Clarke gave Lexa a smile “and we won’t bite, promise”

“Well they won’t, but I make no such promises” 

“Shut up Raven” 

Lexa took a deep breath, and reminded herself again that she was just going to go with the evening. 

“Its okay Raven, I wont make any promises either” She looked Raven dead in the eye and gave her a smirk and a wink. Clarke looked a little shocked, Octavia filled the room with raucous laughter. 

“Right, yes. We are going to like you” Raven nodded at her. 

“So,” Octavia started, “ I have only one question for you…” 

Lexa waited expectantly, getting only a little worried at the devious smirk adorning O’s face.

“Are you a tequila, or a whiskey girl?”


	4. Making memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a bit carried away here, but enjoy !

Chapter 4: Making Memories

The night had started out pretty tame, Octavia assumed because of Lexa being wary of the being in her bosses house but honestly after the first awkward hour where Raven and Clarke and O had commanded most of the conversation, she assumed the alcohol started to kick in a little bit and Lexa started supplying her own voice to whatever ridiculous topic was being debated.  
Clarke and Lexa were in the midst of which spice girl was the least relevant and Octavia was about to bang her head against the wall. She looked towards raven who rolled her eyes at the girl and threw a skittle in her direction, which she lunged to the side to try to catch in her mouth, knocking over the bowl of marshmallows in the process. Clarke and Lexa had ceased their conversation and were looking at her in amusement.

“So, you guys already bicker like an old married couple” she laughed trying to divert the attention to her. “When is the wedding again?” She asked pointedly.  
Lexa and Raven, who were actually getting along amazingly well shared a glance before both looking directly at Clarke who had choked a little on her drink. Octavia turned her attention directly to Clarke as she sat herself up right once more. Crossing her legs.

“Clarke?” She asked.  
Clarke had looked down at her cup, and shrugged a little.

“I honestly don’t know guys, I was just trying to piss of the stupid protesters and got kind of carried away” Clarke smiled apologetically at Lexa, “ sorry for dragging you into that by the way”  
Lexa just waved her off like it wasn’t anything to worry about and waited for the blonde to continue.

“I think, we would have to wait until the T.V lady phones us, but I mean, this could be great publicity for Sky View”

“So essentially you are selling your love life for the greater good of your company” said Raven.

“Well I mean, its not like we are actually going to get married right?” Clarke was looking at each girl individually before settling on Lexa, “ we just have to do some stupid interview and boom. Some good has been done.”  
Clarke studied Lexa who was avoiding her eyes, she looked a little apprehensive and Clarke felt like hitting herself in the head . She hadn’t even considered the effect that that would have on the other girl.  
“I mean or we could just nip it in the bud now and explain it was a prank, it shouldn’t go over to badly right? She suggested, trying to make eye contact with Lexa.

“So pros for faking it…” Raven started, holding up her finger and pointing to a finger to highlight each point. “Publicity. Publicity equals new clients, better representation, more money” Raven looked around and each head in the circle was nodding in agreement so she continued. “Smoking hot fake girlfriend. You will each look like you have game’  
Clarke grabbed a pillow and tried to throw it at Raven, except the drinks she had made her aim go a bit off and it hit Octavia with a soft ‘oomph’

“Hey, I’ve got game!” She glared at Raven while reaching out to give Octavia an apologetic pat.

“Sure princess, whatever you say” Raven smirked at her, “and also, you get the added bonus of pissing off every homophobic person this side the equator”  
Octavia, who had dodged Clarkes wandering apologetic patting, nodded her head.

“Yeah, and the cons for faking it, well. It would be fake. And you wouldn’t be able to tell anyone other than us in case word got out.” She told the trio.

Lexa had still remained quiet. Clarke could tell something didn’t sit easy with her, she realised they had kind of been doing all the talking, and hadn’t given Lexa a chance to offer her own opinion. She was about to ask what her thoughts were when her buisness phone rang, breaking the silence they had all fallen into .  
Clarke checked her caller I.D, and panicking when she realised it was a private number which could only mean it was channel 7. She had all important numbers saved from the company. Clarkes eyes went wide and her mind went completely blank. She forgot how to answer the phone. She threw her phone in alarm at Octavia who calmly answered, placing the small device on loudspeaker and placing it in the centre of the room.

“Miss’s Griffins phone” Octavia sing songed out in her most high-pitched faux-friendly voice.

“Hello? Hello ? Miss Griffin? This is Alexis again, the reporter from early today?”  
Clarke saw Octavia nod encouragingly at her, enticing her to speak to the reporter but Clarke had no idea what to say. They hadn’t come to a decision yet, what was she to do?

“Uh, hi, this is Miss Grif- Clarke. Clarke here” she coughed awkwardly, and Octavia slapped her hand against her head.

“Hello! Clarke, so good to hear your voice, so you guys are officially big news!” The reporter chirped out of the speaker.” After such a brave stunt earlier we have had floods of callers and messages asking to do a follow up segment on you guys. You are an inspiration to the masses! Your love is so obvious and beautiful, people cant help but fall in love right along with you”  
Clarke almost threw up a little from how ridiculously cheesy and sappy that sounded, Octavia it seemed had the same idea as she was miming heaving into a bucket, much to the enjoyment of Raven, who tried to disguise her laughter as a coughing fit.  
“Are you okay Clarke? The girl on the other end of the phone sounded concerned and Octavia picked up a pillow she had been hit with before and threw it , this time connecting directly with Raven who looked resentfully at the smaller girl but remained silent from then on.

“Yeah, no sorry listen about today, we are really happy so many people want to show support but we don’t think a follow up interview would be such a good idea” Clarke figured that was the easiest option for all this seeing as they hadn’t actually come to a plan of action yet. She was trying to figure out how to decline without revealing that Lexa and her hadn’t actually gotten engaged.

“Are you sure, it would do wonders for your company, potential investors and clients would be lining up to be represented by Sky-View, not to mention you would be a figure head everywhere for young LGBTQ people!” Alexis gushed out in her same overly excited tone. Just listening to the girl was exhausting, Clarke couldn’t imagine actually being her.  
Clarke had no idea what to say, so she looked wildly to Octavia and mouthed ‘help’ at her but I just shrugged her shoulders and motioned for her to continue talking.

“Uh yeah, I know its just that..-“ Clarke sighed, and prepared herself to explain the situation, “ we cant do an interview because-“

“I am camera shy” Lexa cut in for the first time since they had brought up the topic and once again all three older girls were looking at her in open mouthed shock.

“Sorry Alexis, Clarke is just trying to look out for me, I don’t see why the interview should be a problem” Lexa continued, ignoring the surprise on the girls faces and gesturing encouragingly at Clarke for her to speak too.

“Oh, yeah, uh that’s me, Looking out for my…um..,girl” Clarke looking at Lexa in confusion.

“Oh, that is too cute, you love birds are not going to regret this” Alexis all but screeched in her excitement.  
Clarke had no idea how to end this conversation, but luckily Lexa took the point.

“Listen you got us at a bad time, mind phoning next week at some point” Lexa said confidently, looking directly at Clarke. “Newly engaged you know, we are kind of……busy” She let her voice drop to a tone that was past sultry and straight into lustful receiving a small squeak from both Clarke and the reporter.  
Raven and Octavia shared an approving glance.

“Of… of course sorry I will leave you to it. Just phone me when you are…done. Or ready. Whenever you want. My phone is always on”  
Lexa hung up the phone for Clarke, who still seemed to be frozen in place.

“So who wants another drink?” She asked ignoring what had just happened.

“Lexa...”

“Clarke…” Lexa repeated jokingly

“What did you just-?”

“I made an executive decision, which I thought you would do, seeing as you are….you know . An executive” she told her.  
Octavia held up her hands,

“Whoah, do you know what you just did?” she asked of the new addition to their clan

“I was under the impression I just set up an interview with channel 7?” Lexa asked innocently.

“Yeah but, like…. You have to fake date Clarkey here” Raven pointed out.

“I doubt that will be difficult, who wouldn’t miss the opportunity to date her, she is beautiful” Lexa said non-concomitantly. “Besides, its one interview, we do that, Sky view gets publicity, you get more business, I get paid more” She told the three girls matter-of-factly

“So we are engaged then” Clarke asked, not quite believing what was happening.

“For all intents and purposes, I suppose we are”

“Because you will get paid more?” Clarke questioned

“Because, I haven’t had a laugh like today in a long time, and I had fun and I have been told I need to stop thinking so much”  
Raven looked between the girls.

“So what we are saying here is that Clarke is hot, she makes you want to have fun, and you don’t want to think about it, so you are going to fake an engagement to her?” She tried to clarify.  
Lexa nodded sagely, Clarke was a little gobsmacked with the events but she nodded along too.

“Shotgun maid of honour” Octavia called shooting her hand in the air before either girl could answer

“No way! I get Maid, you can be a bridesmaid” Raven argued

“Raven, I am not afraid to fight you”

“Bring it, Raven Reyes fears no woman”  
Lexa held both her hands up to stop the potential wrestling match, honestly those two were like children.

“We can decide intricacies tomorrow” Lexa made sure the two weren’t about to continue their spar before turning to Clarke suddenly feeling insecure.  
“I hope I didn’t overstep, I just… thought it would be good for the company” She said, speaking only to Clarke now. Fear welled up inside her, what if Clarke wasn’t gay, what if she didn’t want to fake a relationship, what if this was a terrible mistake, what if she didn’t like her like that.  
“I mean, it doesn’t mean anything. Obviously. Just pretend. For the company” She said  
Clarke smiled and nodded at the same time Octavia gave Raven a look that just said ‘yeah right’

“For the company” Clarke echoed, raising her glass. The trio around her followed suit and no one spoke of the engagement or the proposal for the rest of the night.

*****

A little while later Clarke was sat on the ground next to Octavia was perched precariously on one of the couches, feet up in the air and head hanging upside down over the edge while Raven and Lexa tried unsuccessfully to throw skittles into the two girls mouths. They had made teams, Team Clexa and team Ravia, as Raven had decreed them. Each time one of the pair made the shot, the other had to take a shot. It was a simple game and quite effective as the tequila bottle was almost empty.  
Raven scored another skittle directly into Octavia’s mouth with a whoop and Lexa downed her shot like a champion, flipping the shot glass upside down and looking at Raven triumphantly. Clarke was begging to realise Lexa had a bit of a competitive streak in her. It was cute. After Lexa had her drink Clakre followed suit, and sucked on a slice of lemon with a grimace, she really hated tequila. At all. Clarke attempted to pour refills but not matter how upside downy she made the bottle no liquid came out. She glared despondently at the traitorous bottle.

“Sno tequila left” She informed the others. “I love tequila” she told them sadly, dropping the bottle next to her.  
Octavia flipped over onto her stomach, and placed her head on Clarkes shoulder.

“Hey princess guess what” the small girl teased.  
Clarkes eyes grew wide.

“What!?” she asked apprehensively.

“Guess who has more tequila in the kitchen….?” Octavia singsonged  
Clarke gasped and turned to face her roommate, dislodging her from her position on the couch.

“We do?!?” She all but yelled gleefully.

“We do.” Octavia confirmed with a laugh.  
Clarke wasted no time in jumping to her feet. Only to sit back down almost immediately as the room started spinning and little lights danced before her eyes. .

“Hey O.” Clarke said hopefully

“yeeahuh”

“Can you give me a push?” She asked, looking at Octavia with her best impression of puppy dog eyes.  
Octavia only laughed at her. That was rude. Clarke was being totally serious. How was she meant to get up by herself? Didn’t Octavia know that the little lights in her eyes were making the room spin?  
Lexa moved from her position across the room, getting to her feet with only a slight wobble.

“Come on Clarkey, lets go.” She walked across the room, and grabbed Clarke under both arms, pulling her to her feet.  
Clarke was entranced by this angel in front of her, she would go wherever she wanted her to. Where did she want to take her again?

“Where are we going” Clarke asked mesmerized by Lexa whose eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“To get more tequila” Lexa told her.  
Upon hearing this Clarke flung both her arms around Lexas neck, who was nearly bowled over by the force of the hug.

“You are the absolute best Clarke told her. “I love tequila”

“I kind of gathered that” she laughed while extracting herself from Clarkes embrace only to find herself face to face with a smiling Clarke. Lexa was dumbstruck once more, Clarke was truly beautiful when she smile. It reminded her of a sunrise, when most people don’t give it a second glance, they knew another one will come tomorrow, there are hundreds of them a year. So they don’t look properly. They don’t pay attention. Lexa knows, that if you watch the sunrise properly, If you really stopped and looked, you can see the whole world. The sunrise means a new day, new moments and experiences and new memories, new ideas and dreams and hopes and new possibilities. Sunrises were infinite l in their potential, Sunrises were beautiful. Clarkes smile was beautiful. And Lexa thought she would miss every sunrise if it meant she could see that smile each day.

“Hey look, I think they are having a moment” Raven stage whispered loudly to Octavia

“I think you might be right” Octavia stage whispered right back

“Should we get the tequila?”

“I think maybe it won’t get gotten otherwise” Octavia looked at Raven and they nodded simultaneously, before both jumping up and vacating to the kitchen.

*******

Octavia & Raven p.o.v (ish)

The kitchen was set up around an island counter with the stove top in the centre of the room, instead of a wall to block out the lounge, a marble wood bar stretched across one length of the room which allowed a vantage point to see all that was happening. She could see her best friend through the gap. Raven jumped up onto the counter, chopping board and bag of lemons in hand as Octavia collected a bottle of tequila from their pantry.

“So, what do you think about them two?” Raven asked as she started to slice up the lemons.

“I don’t know yet” she said honestly. Turning to appraise the two girls in the lounge room, who had in the last 20 seconds reseated themselves on the couch, they were deep in some conversation the two girls in the kitchen couldn’t hear. Lexa was lying across the three seater, with Clarkes head on her chest, stretching out on her side. Their hands were intertwined, and Lexa was threading and re-threading her fingers through Clarkes.  
“Whatever it is though, they are both kidding themselves with this whole faking it thing” she recognized .

“Oh definitely, whats the plan at this point?” Raven asked also assessing the girls on the couch.

“I don’t think we have one.” Octavia sighed, taking a swig out of the bottle and grimacing only slightly before handing it to Raven while she stole a slice of lemon. Sucking on the fruit to get rid of taste before continuing. “I think we’ve got to let her make her own decisions here kid” she said wisely.

“Dude, I’m older than you” Raven deadpanned.

“regardless” she shrugged turning to gather some more snacks to take with them, allowing the girls some more time on their own.

“I think you are right though” Raven said from her perch on the counter.  
Octavia eyed her questioningly.

“They are definitely not faking it” Raven supplied, pointing a finger towards Clarke and Lexa who were locked in a what looked like a very non pg-13 kiss on Octavia's favorite couch. .

“Oh god, I am going to have to bleach the couch” Octavia stared in horror. "My grandmother gave me that couch"

***********  
Lexa and Clarkes P.O.V (ish)

As Octavia and Raven left the room, Clarke felt herself snap out of the trance she had not noticed she was in, and tried to shake her head to clear it, which was a bad idea because it made her dizzy again. She really hated tequila.

“Come on Clarkey, your friends have gone to get the tequila” Lexa told her, also snapping herself out of whatever she had been thinking about and moving to lie down on the couch. She had been sat on the floor for hours now, and her rear was protesting vehemently. She didn’t expect Clarke to plonk herself directly on top of her, but she wasn’t complaining. At least this way she couldn’t see it when Clarke smiled, she wouldn’t be able to get distracted quite so easy.

“So , fiancé. Tell me something about you that no one else knows” Clarke asked her, settling down against Lexas chest. She could feel the other girl’s heart pulsing strongly against her cheek. It was calming, and helped make the room stop spinning quite so violently.  
Lexa was silent contemplating the question. Without thinking she brought her hand up to link it with Clarkes, who didn’t seem to mind at all.

“What do you want to know?” She asked, staring their two hands, on reflex she had started to play with Clarkes hand, and it was mesmerizing watching their fingers weave in and out of each other.

“Hmmmmm, I don’t know. What’s your favourite colour?” Clarke asked her

“That isn’t really classified information Clarke” She chuckled quietly.

“Yeah, but its information I should know. As your designated fiancé for the month” Clarke told her.

“Red” Lexa supplied.

“Why red?”

“I like sunsets” she provided noncommittedly

“I like green” Clarke told her. “I like the green like the ocean in winter, and I like the emerald of the trees I used to climb as a kid.”  
Lexa sat back and listened to the smaller girl talk. Even her voice was enthralling.  
“I like the lime colour of my favourite socks, and I like the deep green of my ever car. And-“ Clarke readjusted herself so she was lying on her stomach, her lower half was stretched out next to Lexas, but her chest pressed against the other girl, she was leaning up on one arm, the other still entwined with Lexas. Staring directly into Lexa’s eyes Clarke felt her breath catch.  
Lexa had been holding her breath since Clarke turned around. She really hoped Clarke didn’t smile. She didn’t think she would be able to handle that .  
“-And I like the green in your eyes. Every time I look at them they seem to be a different shade. But they are all gorgeous. And they are my favourite” Clarke admitted, Lexa was looking at her, Clarke couldn’t tell if she was breathing.  
Clarke smiled a little, embarrassed at what she had said and Lexa stopped thinking once more.

“we should practice” Lexa all but blurted out.  
Clarke looked at her with an eyebrow raised. And Lexa immedialy regretted saying anything.

“Practice?”

“yeah, like being couple-y and stuff. For the cameras you know” She gave weakly.  
Clarke though, just nodded as if this was the wisest thing in the world.

“yes. Couple-y stuff, like…. Holding hands?” Clarke asked gesturing to their interlocked fingers.

“Yeah like that, and like cuddling too” Lexa said shakily.

“Right, what else do couples do?” Clarke asked her, innocently enough but Lexa was having trouble thinking. Clarke was lying on top of her and she was smiling and joking and she had had quite a bit to drink.  
Lexa decided to literally throw it all to the wind. In for a penny in for a pound.She raised her self until her lips were a hairs breadth away from Clarke’s ear.

“I can think of a few things” she whispered and felt Clarke shiver above her. “They…… ,” she teased playfully, nipping at the shorter girls neck, she heard Clarke squeak, in what could have been surprise, what could have been pleasure. "Bite" She nipped again a little harder, and felt as well as heard Clarkes squeak turn to a moan of approval. Lexa let go of the other girls hand in favour of holding onto her back. Gripping onto her tightly. Clarke moved to hold onto Lexa’s side firmly, pressing her chest harder onto the girl below her. Lexa inhaled shakily, letting herself feel the entire weight of Clarke on her before moving her lips back to Clarke’s ear. “They…… " she said barely louder than a murmur, moving back to the spot she had bitten and sucking gently on the tender skin " do that," Clarkes grip got impossibly tighter on the girls shirt, and her eyes closed as her hips ground down involuntarily.

“Oh god” she let out in a breathy sigh  
She felt Lexa pull away from her at that and saw the smirk on her face. Clarke couldn’t believe that she had never heard of this girl until today, and now here she was lying underneath her whispering suggestive things into her ear. She looked like a goddess in the dim lighting, and the way she whispered into her ear made her sound like the devil. Clarke was intoxicated by it all.  
“What else do couples do?” She asked through hooded eyes.  
Lexa stared up at her.

“They kiss” She said simply, threading her arms higher on the blonde girl, one cupping her neck, and using her position as leverage Lexa pulled Clarke down forcefully allowing their lips to connect for the second time that day. Only this time they weren’t being snowed on, or filmed, or yelled at.  
Kissing Clarke was new. Lexa focused on the feeling of the girl’s slightly chapped lips gliding over her own. She tasted like tequila and skittles, and it was the best combination Lexa had ever encountered. She was drawn into the girl, ignoring the fact that they had both been drinking, and that this didn’t mean anything to the older girl, she let herself succumb to Clarke completely.  
They moved against each other in unison, slowly adjusting to each other’s pace. Clarke moved so her lower body was settled comfortably over Lexa, and the Lexa let her hands wander over Clarkes back gently.

Lexa found out that if she bit down gently on Clarkes lower lip she could cause the girl to rut her hips in desperation, and Clarke realised that if she rutted her hips Lexa would whimper and gasp in a way that was completely addictive and totally unfair. It was almost too easy to get lost in kissing the other girl. Lexa stroked her hands along Clarke’s sides as they kissed and widened her legs so that the Clarke could settle between them. Clarke was all too aware that her best friends were in the next room, and that Lexa was probably drunk, and that she was probably drunk too, but she could not find it in herself to care when she felt Lexas hips subtly moving against her own as they kissed. Clarke felt Lexa’s tongue swipe across her lips, asking for entry she opened her mouth and leaned further into the girl beneath her, they hesitantly reconnected their lips, this time their tongues subtly moved against each other. Clarkes head was getting heavier, and so was her breathing. She wanted more of this girl. She wanted everything that she had to offer. She started to grind down harder onto the girl beneath her, revelling in the noises she was enticing out of her.

“You guys should probably be waiting till marriage you know” Raven’s voice snapped them both out of their haze and they broke apart from each other , Clarke clumsily extracted herself from between Lexas legs, falling off the couch in the process and started blushing furiously while Lexa just moved to sit in an upright position on the couch.

“I’ve never really been one for religion” Lexa shrugged at Raven, entirely unfazed by being caught practically dry humping on the couch.

“Good call, that rule sucks. But if you guys aren’t going to share” Raven said wagging her eyebrows suggestively, “at least wait till you are in private.”

“Yeah sorry to interrupt but you looked like you were about to make memories on my favourite couch. And I am the only one allowed to make memories there” O said from across the room.  
Lexa quirked an eyebrow at Octavia who had entered carrying another bottle and some snacks.

“Make memories?” She asked

“Hey call it what you want, just don’t do the do on my favourite couch” Octavia told them.  
Clarke cleared her throat and attempted to change the conversation.

“Did you find tequila?” she asked trying to ignore what just happened.  
Octavia set down the snacks and then tossed the bottle of tequila at the still blushing girl who caught it with a little fumbling

“Here you are princess, go for your life”

"I hate tequila" Clarke grumbled quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to note that i don't have a Beta, so if there are any glaring mistakes please let me know. And if there are any suggestions of what should happen further along the story feel free. I thrive on feedback


	5. Mario Kart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its taking so long, studying takes priority unfortunately, also i am afraid i got distracted by the warm weather.

Lexa could feel her hangover before she even opened her eyes. Her entire left arm was tingling with the borderline pain you get from resting weight on it for the entirety of her slumber, the sun was shining through her closed eyelids to the point that she was squinting before even opening them, each tick she could hear from the clock on the corner side reverberated through her ears like it was an empty hall, massively increasing the volume and making her head pound. Grimly she swallowed a few times trying to bring back any moisture to her mouth, which felt like she had licked every kilometre of the Sahara desert from grain to grain. She stuck her tongue out in disappointment when the dryness on her tongue just felt worse. She needed water. 

Cringing pre-emptively she cracked open one eye, trying to ignore the fact that the sunlight blasting in from the open doorway on the side of the lounge room felt as if it was carrying thousands of tiny needles and flinging them straight into her brain via her eye sockets. She groaned loudly pulling herself into a sitting position and taking in her surroundings. She had fallen asleep (passed out) on one of the mattresses the 4 girls had dragged into the room a little later on in the evening, Lexa could see the results of their escapades. Empty bottles were strewn across the lounge room and empty packets of candy and chocolate were crumpled in a pile on the far side of the faux-bed. She took a moment to congratulate herself on the actual amount that the4 small girls had managed to ingest in the way of alcohol and junk food. She nodded her satisfaction to herself and was hit with excruciating pain that tore through her temple at the motions. She slammed her eyes shut and sat herself upright, leaning back against one of the couches her mattress had been pushed up against and groaned again to herself. Hangovers sucked.

“Yeah it sucks huh?” 

She heard the whispered query, and Lexa was just grateful that, Raven, whose voice she had recognised, had opted to speak quietly. Lexa braced herself, scrunching up her eyes she opened up one as slowly as possible, trying to shield the light from view. Across the room draped across the two seater Raven was sat up nursing a glass of liquid with slow sips. 

“I had that about 10 minutes ago, and trust me it doesn’t get better” Raven hushed across the room. 

Ignoring her statement Lexa rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to ease the stiff muscles she received for a night of drunken slumber.

“Water?” she croaked, her voice sounding as granulated as the desert she assumed she had somehow ingested. 

Raven didn’t bother replying just pointed past her, as Lexa turned to look she opted to speak again. 

“O takes care of us, bitch doesn’t do hangovers” She huffed

Lexa followed Ravens finger and found a small coffee table next to the couch Raven where 2 cups of orange liquid and some Panadol sat. One of the cups had a post-it-note saying ‘Commander’ and the other ‘Princess’. She noticed another sticky note next to the cups reading ‘Mechanic’ which she figured had previously been attached to the drink Raven had in her possession. 

“It’s beroca, helps with the hangover” Raven supplied when Lexa didn’t reach immediately for either cup. “It will ease the headache”

“Commander?” she asked as quietly as she could, not wanting to piss off her brain by making any loud noises. 

“Oh yeah, that’s you” Raven chuckled quietly. 

“Do I even want to know why?” She whispered as she grabbed the cup and downed half of the liquid in one go. 

She cast back to last night trying to remember any sort of nicknaming ceremony but after the second bottle of tequila had been opened things were, not hazy per say, more like not there at all. Whenever Lexa got really drunk it kind of felt like watching her own actions in fast-forward, and then when she woke up in the morning she only remembered random bits of the events. . She tried desperately to remember anything after Octavia had decided to use the nail polish to paint faces on them all but received nothing but black.

“I would love to tell you, but I can’t remember jack shit after the Hula Hoop contest”

“Hula Hoop Contest??” She groaned

“Hey it was your idea” Raven shrugged back at her. 

Lexa just put her head in her hands and groaned again trying to remember anything at all. 

“You are pretty good at moving your hips you know” Raven told her from her perch on the couch.

“It’s too early for flirting Raven” Lexa told her.

“It’s never too early for flirting Commander”

Lexa was interrupted from answering by a groan from behind her. 

“Too loud” Clarke’s voice complained at them.

Lexa thought about turning around to face Clarke who had fallen asleep on the couch that she was resting her back against but the thought of moving just yet set her stomach into a panic so she just brought her drink up to her lips again.

“Sorry Clarkey, had to get my pre 2-in-the-afternoon flirting out of the way” Raven stage whispered.

Lexa almost choked on her last mouthful of Beroca when she felt Clarke drape one hand lazily over her shoulder and the other started playing with her hair lightly. The touch was so soothing and rhythmic though that it started to ease the throbbing of her head. Lexa lay her head back against Clarkes hand and enjoyed the gentle massaging of the girl on the couch.

“No flirting with my fiancé” Clarke told her and then groaned again. Lexa felt Clarke remove the hand from her hair, she assumed to clasp at her own aching head, but her other arm was still draped across her shoulder with a comforting weight. 

“And no talking for a little while okay”

Lexa chuckled to herself as Raven mouthed ‘spoilsport’ at her. Lexa nodded at her and then resigned to being sat in the same position for a while. Clarkes arm was still hanging onto her from where the blonde girl was lying, and judging by the lack of movement and the evening out of her breathing she had fallen asleep again. Lexa let herself be easy in the touch. She saw last night how comfortable Clarke was with her two friends and this was not even close to an unusual act for someone she deemed her friend. The flirty friendship that the three girls maintained had seemed to stretch to include Lexa now, and Lexa wasn’t complaining, other than her sometimes friendship with Anya. Anya always told her she was like a lone wolf, Lexa knew it was meant to be reassuring but in every story or documentary she watched it was the lone wolfs that crashed and fell. They couldnt survive witout a pack, too weak to continue without companionship. She would like to think she had been okay by herself, but here with these girls and being as accepted and included as she was, Lexa couldnt help but think maybe Anya was wrong after all. 

She felt the weight of Clarke's arm against her and let her self relax into the comforting touch. There was no harm in enjoying the simple things. She heard Clarke groan quietly in her sleep and chuckled to herself replaying Clarke’s words in her mind with fondness. And then she froze. 

“Raven” She whispered trying to get the attention of her other boss who had closed her eye again. “What time did you say it was?” 

“About to be 2 Commander” Raven gave a lazy salute before settling back on the couch. 

“Holy shit” Lexa pulled herself from Clarkes hold, making the sleeping girl groan and turn over in her slumber, and leaped to her feet  
As quickly as she was upright was as quickly as she sat back down again, the room rushing around her, and her head pounding in defiance. 

“Woah whoa somewhere to be? Raven asked her.

“I have to be at work an hour and a half ago!”  
Lexa's panic was interrupted by Octavia walking in from the hallway holding 4 cups in a holder. She looked entirely the opposite of how Lexa felt and she allowed herself a little anger to seep into her stare as she took in how put together and very non-hungover O looked. Her anger quickly replaced however when the platter of drinks was held out to her and she was able to pick up the cup that had Leeksa scrawled on the side. Figures they always spell her name wrong. She took a sip and sighed in relief

“You do realize you work for me right?” 

The shorter girl said as she threw her keys into a bowl on a cabinet in the corner of the room before distributing the rest of the coffee to Raven, and placing Clarkes on the table next to the sleeping girls head. 

“And me!” Raven pointed out from the couch, and then pointed to Clarke, “And her”

“I mean not really, really just me” Octavia told her with a wide grin not bothering to whisper as she nudged Ravens legs out of the way for her to take their place on the couch. Raven was too busy holding her hands over her ears to react to that. 

“Volume!” she griped 

Lexa was glad she wasn’t the only one to cringe at the volume of the girl, but O continued to ignore Ravens protestation.

“And I say you don’t have to go to work today so, you know. You’re good” Octavia assured her with a hint of finality  
.  
Lexa didn’t bother to argue the point if it meant not moving anymore and settled back against the couch Clarke was still asleep against. She decided to ignore the fact that she was already missing the warmth of Clarkes arm around her, and definitely decided to ignore what that might mean. 

“What do you mean you are my only boss?” She asked once she was comfortable, making sure to keep her volume at a manageable level. 

“I mean that while you drunkards have been sleeping” Octavia looked pointedly at all of them, and Lexa frowned a little, distinctly remembering Octavia outdrinking them all as the night went on. “I have been sorting out the plans for this little ruse of yours” She told them, looking between her assistant and her sleeping partner. 

“Oh wise one we are forever grateful” Raven snarked sarcastically, replacing her legs back onto the couch over Octavia’s laps, stretching exaggeratedly. 

“Okay, no I have a plan.” Octavia said leaning forward conspiringly, “there is nothing that can throw up any legal flags, technically Lexa is my employee, and that makes me her employer, and me alone” 

Lexa nodded at her. 

“So there will be no complaints of ‘fraternising with my boss” she supplied.

“Exactly, Young Grasshopper” O told her nodding sagely. “Furthermore, this is actually bigger news then we expected, you guys might have to do more than fake an interview or two” 

“What do you mean?” Raven asked her, now sat up listening intently. 

“Well, I just mean that Channel 7’s ratings went up phenomenally, the YouTube video..” at this Octavia paused and glared at Raven who threw her hands up and tried to look as innocent as possible…” the YouTube video has become an international sensation overnight, for some reason people loved that video. And the bigger it gets, the harder this will be to pull off”

“So what’s your plan?” Raven asked

“Ah well you see now that is where I become brilliant”

Lexa let herself laugh at that and threw one of the pillows still scattered across the floor at Octavia who dodged it completely without a second thought. 

“And just for that you don’t get to know the plan” Octavia stuck her tongue out at Lexa, which she reciprocated and then watched as O leaned over to whisper into Ravens ear.

Raven started making sounds like ‘ahh’ and ‘yes’ and ‘I see’ while nodding her head and grinning at Lexa. 

Lexa felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head to the side so she could look directly at Clarke who was now awake and looking like her hangover had disappeared. 

“What’s with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?” Clarke whispered to her with a sleepy grin.

“They are talking about us” Lexa whispered right back, watching was Clarke arched one eyebrow and looked past her at her partners. 

“Guys, whatcha doooiin?” she drawled out.

“Talking about you Clarke, and not to you” Octavia told her.

“Well that’s no fun” The blonde girl yawned out as she pulled herself upright on the couch, stretching out her arms. 

“Planning isn’t meant to be fun Clarke” O told her pointedly. 

“Well, I don’t know, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun” Raven chortled.

“Hush now Ray” Octavia calmly patted one of Ravens legs draped across her.

Lexa was about to throw another pillow when Raven decided this conversation was over with. 

“Who is feeling Mario Kart?” 

Any further conversation was completely muted by Clarke squealing excitedly and Octavia groaning equally as loud. Lexa's pondering on what Octavia might have planned was replaced with her flinching at the high pitched noises coming from behind her and nodded. 

“I could be down for Mario Kart” she shrugged. 

Clarke started up a chant of yes yes yes as Octavia shook her head. 

“Raven why have you done this!” 

“Hey, Clarke said we weren’t fun! I had to do something” 

*******************

The girls spent the rest of the day playing Mario Kart and nursing their hangovers, later on in the evening Raven and Lexa were not quite so tender in the head and Lexa was holding her own in their game, in the sense that she was not coming last. That position was reserved for Clarke who looked like someone was kicking her puppy every time someone overtook her Yoshi. Raven was beating them all by leagues and every time she won Clarke seemed to get quieter and more determined, although to no avail. Time after time Raven as Shy Guy beat all of them. Lexa wished she was better at Mario Kart so that she could be winning, so that she could purposefully lose so Clarke didn’t look quite so despondent. But she was not good at Mario Kart, and she was losing not on purpose and honestly Bowser needed to pick up his damn pace!

“FUCKING COCK TOASTER JESUS FUCK” Octavia screamed out. 

After the first couple of outbursts Lexa had stopped being surprised at the outbursts from the tiny girl. Her extensive use of the more vulgar words in the English language was actually impressing her quite a bit. As Clarke got quieter, Octavia had gotten louder. To be fair, being constantly second would put Lexa to the point of calling a toaster names too. 

“God DAMNIT you TWATTING arseHOLE”

“I am the DRIFT KING motherFUCKERS” crowed Raven, hangover forgotten. 

“DK my fucking ass Raven I just need this SHITTING WANK STRUDEL out of my GODDAMN FUCKING WAY”

And so on. It was an educating experience. 

After their 4th tournament, which ended dramatically with Clarke throwing out a blue shell as Raven and Octavia were fighting for first. 

“SACRAFICE” Raven screamed loudly diving dramatically to the side as the blue shell hit her and Octavia zoomed past to cross the finish line to victory.

“FUCKING YES MOTHER FUCKERS DONKEY KONG IS KING” Octavia jumped up and started doing a happy dance in the middle of the room.

“Yeah I won, yeah I did beeeaaaat you, yeah you should be sooooorrey, because i beat you, like you’re whipped creaaam” Octavia started singsonging much to the amusement of Lexa and Raven. 

Clarke huffed a little, and left the room without saying a word. 

“Here comes the ice cream” Raven told Lexa informingly. 

Octavia stopped her dance and sat down looking a little guilty. 

“So I am kind of awesome, we know this yes?” Raven asked her.

Lexa didn’t bother justifying her with an answer, but Raven seemed satisfied anyway.

“Right, well sometimes my awesome leaks through into the games we play” 

Octavia scoffed a little. Raven ignored her.

“I get a little competitive” she shrugged.

“A little?” Octavia scoffed. She turned to Lexa and looked at her pointedly. “Do you know what you won’t find in this house Lexa?” she asked. 

“A full bottle of tequila” she replied straight away.

“Hah, the girls funny, NO. We have not one single board game” 

“Not one?” Lexa asked, glancing at Raven, who just looked away guiltily. “Not even monopoly?” 

“Especially not monopoly” Octavia told her

“Right well, yeah, fact is, Clarke is kind of equally competitive, but I get awesome a lot. It can’t be helped” She shrugged “So the ice-cream is her solution to distracting us from how annoyed she gets that she didn’t win”  
Raven continued to inform Lexa, Octavia nodding along in agreement.  
“I actually better go and see how she is doing” Raven sighed. “Poor darling was not blessed with my awesome”

Lexa saw an opportunity to speak to Clarke alone for what felt like the first time since they had gotten engaged and almost too quickly held up her hand stopping Raven who was clumsily trying to unfold her legs and climb into a standing position. 

“I can check on her” Lexa sounded altogether too eager, even to her own ears. “I mean, I am going to marry her and all” she joked awkwardly.

Raven relented easily, and gestured towards the door gracefully. 

“All yours commander” 

Lexa nodded quickly and jumped to her feet heading out the room. 

“That was a bad idea” Octavia sang sliding from her spot onto the floor next to Raven, when she was close enough she lay her head down against Ravens shoulder.

“Whysat” Raven asked adjusting herself to lean against the back of the couch, giving Octavia more room to stretch out. 

“You know what happened the last time they were alone together” Octavia pointed out.

“Yeah, but I believe Lexa” Raven sighed bringing her hand up lazily to stroke patterns on the shorter girls back.

“Believe her on what?” 

“That she’s going to marry our Clarke” she said simply. 

Octavia nodded in agreement, slightly tinged with sadness and nostalgia, thinking back to when the trio had met. It had been unlikely after their first encounter that they would ever bear to speak to one another again but somehow they had ended up here. Sharing an apartment, a company and a life together. There was a trusting in their shared companionship and that was likely to change if any one of them found someone they loved more than they loved each other. So far it hadn’t happened. She could see Ravens point though, from only the last day Octavia could tell that it would be very easy for Clarke to fall in love with Lexa. She was smart, that much she knew from Lexa’s time as her assistant, she was witty, and could match Raven joke for joke when It came down to it, and she seemed to have her head, and hopefully her heart, in the right place. There were worse people to lose a best friend to, she pondered. That didn’t make the knowledge of the possibility any easier to bear. Raven she knew, understood what she was feeling, so instead of voicing her worry, she shifted closer to her friend and handed her one of the controllers. 

“Come on, rematch while the lovebirds get it on” she joked. 

“That sounds like a mistake Blake” Raven leaned forward competitively 

“Just bring it Reyes.” 

 

**********************

 

“Hey you” Lexa called from the entrance to the kitchen, leaning against one side of the archway, holding her hands in her pockets nervously.  
She hadn’t given herself enough time to plan what she would say, and was left awkwardly hovering to the side. Clarke, to her credit did not seem at all surprised by Lexa’s sudden appearance, and turned to lean against the bar counter. 

“Hey you” she smiled, holding out a bunch of spoons for Lexa to take

Lexa drew some confidence from wherever it was she was pulling that from nowadays and walked over to rest her back against the counter next to Clarke, accepting one of the spoons graciously. 

Clarke handed her a tub of ice-cream and she inspected it with an arched eyebrow. 

“Strawberry shortcake” she acknowledged approvingly.  
“Yeah” enthused Clarke “it’s my favourite, and a bonus because Dee and Dum in there don’t like it” she chuckled gesturing with her head towards the lounge room where they could see Octavia and Raven fiercely arguing over the usefulness of green shells. 

“Mmmhmm, less to share, I get it” Lexa nodded. “I like your style Griffin”  
Lexa popped the lid of the ice-cream, and scooped out a sizable amount. “Unfortunately for you, this happens to be my favourite too” She informed Clarke, before trying to put her entire spoonful into her mouth, much to the amusement of the girl next to her. 

“Well, at least I know you have good taste” Clarke said, shuffling closer to Lexa, and jumping up so she was sat at the counter, her leg touching Lexas arm slightly. 

“I just know what I like” she offered the tub towards Clarke so she could get a spoonful trying not to cringe at how flirty that sounded. 

The two lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while before Lexa felt Clarke sigh next to her. 

“We can do this right?” she asked.  
Lexa hadn’t yet heard her sound so vulnerable, so she put the ice-cream down next to her on the counter, and turned her head, angling it upwards so could get a look at the other girl. She wasn’t looking at Lexa, she was staring into the lounge room watching Lexa and Raven play their video game. As Lexa watched she turned from the others to look expectantly at Lexa, her mouth quirked into an apprehensive smile and Lexa realised she hadn’t said anything for a few minutes.

“Do what?” She asked

“Fake a relationship?” Clarke raised an eyebrow at her

“Oh, yeah that” 

“Do you think we will be able to pull it off?” Clarke asked her again. 

“I think,” Lexa paused, trying to figure out what she thought of the whole situation. She hadn’t had a lot of time to think on anything. “I think that this went from zero to a hundred really quickly” she paused to see if Clarke wanted to add anything but the other girl just nodded. “I think that if we get our story straight, then you and I won’t have a problem” she said reassuringly.

 

“I don’t think getting our story straight is going to help.”  
Lexa looked up at Clarke in confusion as she returned the gaze a completely serious expression on her face. Lexa quirked an eyebrow at her and Clarke’s face burst into a brilliant smile. 

“That was really quite terrible” Lexa smiled at her.

“Terribly fantastic in that it was hilarious” Clarke supplied. 

Lexa shook her head her smile still gracing her face. 

“Come over here for a second” Clarke suddenly stopped laughing and became serious again. Upon seeing Lexa’s eyebrow raised once more. “No funny business, I swear. Scouts Honour”  
Clarke mock saluted and Lexa relented, turning to face Clarke and taking half a step so she was pressed against Clarkes knees. Looking up at Clarke positioned on the counted with a questioning glance she waited. Clarke let her knees float apart, and Lexa hesitated only slightly before inching closer to the smaller girl. Clarke reached out an gently tucked a wild piece of Lexas hair behind her ear, and Lexa leaned into the touch, fluttering her eyes closed for a second before quickly forcing them open. She didn’t want to be too forward, or look too affected by Clarkes touch. Knowing how she was feeling inside at the moment she was starting to fall for Clarke, and Clarke possibly finding that out would make faking a relationship very awkward for the both of them.

“Uh…” Lexa watched as Clarkes eyes roamed over her face with an intensity and dedication. “Whatcha doing there Clarkey?” she asked.

“I am learning you” Clarke told her, reaching one of her hands to gently stroke along Lexa’s check bone, taking in the smooth expanse and the light dusting of freckles barely shadowing across the bridge of the girls nose. 

“And what are you learning” Lexa asked humorously .

“You are beautiful” Clarke told her, pausing in her scanning to look directly into Lexa’s icy eyes. Lexa felt her heart leap at the words, and swallowed almost audibly. “You are smart and kind and you are sad” Clarke tilted her head slightly to take in more of Lexa who stayed silent, listening to Clarke. “You have a very large heart Lexa."

Lexa let out a small humph of air through her nose at that.

“You are learning all that from my face? She asked sceptically

“No” Clarke was looking at her very intensely as Lexa avoided eye contact. It felt as if Clarke was trying to stare directly into her. 

“Not your face, just your eyes” Clarke told her quietly. “From the moment you knocked me over I thought that” Clarke reached up to guide Lexas chin up so she could make eye contact with Lexa again. “You seemed so intense, and sad and vast” she blinked slowly. “Like the ocean,” Clarke was getting down to a whisper now. “Like I would never be done figuring you out”

“I am nothing special Clarke” Lexa said pulling away from the other girl slightly, she turned in her spot and rested her back against Clarke’s front. Not wanting to remove herself from the girl but unable to watch as Clarke stared at her with such intent and interest. “There is nothing to figure out” she joked, hoping Clarke couldn’t hear the tremble of nerves in her voice. 

“Well, I guess we will find out wont we” Lexa could hear the smile in Clarke’s voice without having to look at her.

"You seem to like my eyes a lot" Lexa acknowledged, remembering Clarkes spiel last night.

"Yeah, well i know what i like" Clarke laughed and this time Lexa gulped visibly at the flirtatious tone.

She sighed though, realizing they had been in the kitchen for a while.  
.  
“I suppose we had better share the ice-cream with your friends hey” Lexa told her changing the conversation. 

“Well that just seems like an entirely bad idea” Clarke said as Lexa moved further away from the embrace. 

Lexa blamed how cold she suddenly felt on the ice-cream she was now holding after retrieving it from the counter. 

“Yes, but your friends miss you” 

Clarke scoffed. 

“They can last 10 minutes without me”

“Are you sure about that” Lexa asked as she pointed behind Clarke. 

Clarke turned around to find Raven and Octavia’s heads poking over the side of the bar, both of their hands underneath them in an angelic fashion. 

“It’s been 7 minutes since we saw you and we thought you died” Raven told her with wide eyes

“Yeah we were scared” Octavia nodded with an equally worried expression.

“Anything could have happened” The two girls glanced at each other and then turned to look back at Clarke.

“You could have DIED” They both said in unison. 

“Did you guys practice that?” Lexa asked, moving towards the entrance.

“Probably not, they are just infuriatingly in synch” Clarke hissed at them. 

“Yeah but we still get ice-cream right?” Octavia asked with puppy dog eyes, both her and Raven turning to face Lexa who had hold of the tub.

Lexa glanced towards Clarke for permission and saw Clarke relent with a nod. She turned back towards the two girls and handed the tub over to Octavia who let out a squeal of delight and ran back into the lounge room, Raven hot on her heels. 

“Those two are certainly interesting” Lexa told Clarke with a grin. 

“Yeah, but they are family.” Clarke told her returning the smile and starting to move towards the lounge. “You will get used to them eventually” 

Lexa thought on the fact that she may not be friends with these 3 girls once the whole fake marriage thing blew over, and the thought tinged her current happiness with a vein of sadness. She was enjoying not only Clarke and the feelings she was developing for the blonde, but also the company of her two ridiculous friends. They were unlike any type of friends she had experienced and it was freeing and she felt welcomed. She didn’t want that to end. 

“I hope so” she said wistfully before following Clarke out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments and kudos mean the world to me, .  
> Next chapter Octavia and Raven's plan commences.


	6. Cheap Wine does not a celebration make

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just throwing it out there, life of a law student is sucky and i don't get a lot of time to do things that are not law related, so sorry about the wait. and about the lack of actual plot development, but at least i got something done ! :D  
> If anyone is interested in chatting or whatnot, i have a tumblr.  
> http://beyondreason79.tumblr.com/

As the sun started slipping away behind the horizon, Lexa found her eyes drooping persistently at the same rate the sun was melting beyond the silhouettes of skyscrapers. The 4 girls had found themselves on the balcony, taking up all the space on two of the sunbeds that were still outside from the summer weather. Octavia had situated herself next to Raven, and Clarke had settled against Lexa, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It was comfortable the way they all seemed to fit with each other, Lexa found herself falling easily into casual banter with Raven, interjecting every now and then with the conversation that Clarke and Octavia kept steady. It felt all too right for Lexa when Clarke started absentmindedly tracing patterns across Lexa’s neck as they spent the afternoon talking endlessly and looking over the vast city that was stretched out below them.

The soothing touches from Clarke and the lateness of the hour were getting to her despite doing nothing except lazing about all day and after startling herself awake for the second time, when her body had decided it was just at the precipice of slumber, she stretched out her arms and let out a satisfied moan as she felt the bones in her back and neck crack. Raven nodded appreciatively at the sound before twisting her own neck to the side, receiving several pops for her effort, Clarke and Octavia both looked mildly disturbed at the sound of their necks clicking. 

“I should probably head home” she said quietly, instantly regretting voicing the matter.

As soon as she suggested going home it meant she had to actually go home. She didn’t want to move from this spot ever, trading stories and jokes with the three girls she had never considered she would ever see outside of a work environment and looking out across the golden expanse of the city spread out before them. The waning sunlight was streaming through the gaps in taller buildings giving the whole city an angelic glow about it. Down below in the streets Lexa could assume that there were cars honking, and children crying, and couples having screaming matches, but from their position above it all, the city looked so serene and calming with its silence. She did not want to have to move and immerse herself back into the noise below.  
There was too much to think about when you are part of the city. How this interview was going to go, how behind on her work she was going to be, how Lexa had to attempt to handle having very real feelings for Clarke while they embarked on their very false relationship how much she was going to miss the crazy duo that has been Raven and Octavia once Clarke was bored with their joke, how being at work was going to change because of this new development, how Anya was going to react to the whole situation and so many other thoughts cluttering her mind and making it hard to focus on just one. There were too many worries trying to buzz around and overwhelm her thoughts and up here she didn’t have to think about them all, the silence of the city had drawn her in and left nothing but warmth. She was content to sit here, basking in the quiet with the company of the girls, and the comforting weight of Clarke leaning against her, but she couldn’t stay here forever, and Octavia had already turned to look at her appraisingly after she had spoken. 

“You are not sticking around for more tequila?” the smaller girl asked with a smirk.

“Hah, I don’t think my liver could handle that” Lexa admitted honestly. “ And as tempting as alcohol poisoning does sound, I have things I need to do” she told them half-heartedly, guiltily thinking of her roommate who would be worried out of her mind at Lexas absence.  
Raven smirked from across the balcony

“yeah, like Clarke” 

Even after only 24 hours, Ravens comments had stopped making Lexa blush, and were if not entirely welcomed, they were at least expected. Both Clark and Lexa ignored the comment pointedly while Octavia gave the tanned girl a gentle reprimanding slap to the thigh. 

“No I really need to go, I can’t spend the whole weekend here” Lexa told them almost regretfully.

“I wish you could” Clarke murmured to her quietly, and Lexa tried to ignore the hopeful feeling spreading throughout her chest, and placed a firm hand on Clarke’s thigh ,patting it gently. 

“Me too, come on, up you get Clarkey” she sighed 

Clarke extracted herself from Lexa slowly and turned, offering her hand to Lexa who let herself be pulled to her feet. 

“Come on I will walk you to the door” Clarke told her softly with a smile, and Lexa was thankfully nodding. She really didn’t want to say goodbye just yet, although having Clarke walk her out would probably make it more difficult to actually leave. 

“Actually, I will” Octavia yelled and jumped away from Raven with ease. 

Lexa tried to mask her disappointment but must not have done a good job as Octavia scoffed a little and grabbed hold of her hand. 

“Oh don’t look so upset, you will see Blondie tomorrow” Octavia told her before dragging her away from the balcony. Lexa only had time to say a quick goodbye and half a wave before they were in the hallway and she could no longer see Clarke’s crestfallen expression. 

“you both look like I told you Santa doesn’t exist” Octavia sighed shaking her head once they reached the hallway.

Lexa halted in mock horror, stopping Octavia before they could reach the door. 

“Wait, Santa isn’t real!” She asked with wide eyes, panic lacing her voice. She received an eye roll from Octavia and a firm tug in the direction of the door.

“You will be apart for like less than a day” Octavia scoffed as they reached the front door. 

“You know tomorrow is Sunday right?” Lexa asked of her employer as the door was opened for her. “I won’t be back into work until Monday” 

“well, duh’, I know that, so you shouldn’t be doing anything at 4, Raven will pick you up then” Octavia informed her as Lexa was guided out the door.

Lexa arched her eyebrow once she had passed the threshold, turning to face her boss

“And what if I had plans” She challenged.

Octavia looked about ready to make a sarcastic comment as she rolled her eyes heavily, but must have decided against it because she sighed and reached out with one hand to place it warmly on Lexa’s shoulder. 

“Lexa” she said pointedly, “Clarke is going to be there, do you really have plans” She asked tilting her head to one side

Lexa thought about rebelling against her new friend, saying that yes she did have plans, or that she shouldn’t assume, and that just because Clarke was there didn’t make a difference, she thought about reminding Octavia that her and Clarke were not in an actually relationship, that it was just make believe . She thought about saying a lot of things but in the end she just sighed in defeat and nodded her head. 

“Right. Four O’clock then.” she relented to Octavia’s satisfaction. 

“That’s what I thought” Octavia reaching her hand up to pat Lexa condescendingly on the head which Lexa dodged with a smile. 

“Bye O” Lexa laughed turning to walk down the hallway.

“Bye Lexy” Octavia singsonged after her as she shut the door with a final wave 

After Octavia had parted with Lexa at the door she returned to the balcony to find Raven had moved from her own seat and curled into Clarke comfortably on the other lounger. Octavia took a second to watch her two best friends approvingly, Clarke was humming softly under her breath and Ravens eyes were closed and her breathing was even and gentle.  
Octavia grabbed the blanket that was discarded when Lexa left and moved over to the two, lifting ravens legs gently, so as not toput too much pressure on the girls leg, before sitting and placing them back down on her lap, draping the blanket over the three of them before settling into a comfortable silence. 

“She seems…..” Clarke started, breaking the quiet

Octavia and focused on Clarke who seemed to be trying to find the right word,waiting patiently for her to continue.. 

“…nice” Clarke finished lamely.

Octavia scoffed.

“She seems nice?” the smallest girl laughed, “that’s all you have to say right now?:

“What am I meant to say O” Clarke asked speaking gently so as not to wake up the quietly snoring Raven.

“Maybe how you feel about all this? Maybe that you are scared, or nervous, or excited, or amazed. I mean she actually hung out with us for more than a day without running for the hills, which you know, is a gift in and of itself” Octavia considered the past few days.

“Maybe you could say that it seems like she didn’t need to try very hard to act like she was in love with you” Octavia raised her eyebrow at Clarke, who had taken to rubbing circles across Ravens temple as O did the same for the girls legs, avoiding the subtly hidden brace underneath the trouser legs. 

“Or maybe that you didn’t seem to have a problem with that either” she said gently, and watched as Clarke faltered slightly in her ministrations as she stared across the city below. 

“Its okay to say those things Clarke” Octavia told her softly, waiting for the blonde to figure out her train of thought.

“Those things scare me O” she whispered into the darkness after a beat of silence. Octavia waited for her to continue. The thing about Clarke was that if you started asking too many questions you would get nowhere. You had to let her work through it all by herself and she would come to you at the end of the process with what she needed help with. It had been the same way since they were younger. She had to work things out for herself before talking to either Raven or Octavia. 

“What if I do say those things, what if I admit that maybe they are true” Clarke swallowed, “ and then this interview finishes and its over immediately?”  
“What if I believe that I really liked her, and then it turns out I am just the fool who took the joke too seriously, and that it has never been anything but a stupid game for her?”  
O waited to see if there was more, and was about to reply when Raven, who Octavia hadn’t noticed was awake, rolled over so she could face Clarke with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

“Did you see the same girl we did? She deadpanned. “Dude, nobody is that good of an actor. Meryl Streep wouldn’t be able to be that convincing. Seriously. That girl is cray for you Griffs” 

Octavia snorted. “Tactful, Ray” she laughed. 

“I am here to supply blunt truths and to bring up the group average when it comes to hotness” 

Clarke snorted a little. 

“Why did I get stuck with you two for friends again” she laughed

Raven pointed accusingly at Octavia.

“Its all her fault, blame her”  
Octavia smiled and gently slapped Raven on her good leg. 

“OH right, and uh,….. because you love us, and we are the only ones who put up with your crazy” 

“Right. Because I am totally the crazy one” Clarke rolled her eyes down at the girl 

“Hey you said it not me” Raven innocently held up her hands before trying to stifle a yawn, which in turn made Clarke yawn deeply. 

This was Octavia’s cue to go all mamma-bear  
.  
“Bed time for the sleepy heads, come on” she commanded firmly. Watching as Raven buried further into Clarkes chest and Clarke immediately let go of all her body weight and slumped against the reclining seat with her eyes closed pointedly ignoring her. 

“No” petulantly came from Raven as she felt Octavia stand up and place her legs back on the seat. 

“Raven Reyes, you are the single most infuriating person I have ever met” Octavia sighed, hands on hips. 

Raven cracked open one eye and looked up at the tiny girl with a giant smile. 

“Aww, that’s such a sweet thing to say” she cooed. “Hear that Clarkey, I am infuriating” Raven proudly stated  
.  
“No one is arguing with that one” Clarke laughed with closed eyes. “You are also heavy, get your fat ass off me” Clark shoved gently rolling Raven off to one side. 

“You guys don’t appreciate my ass” Raven grumbled as she braced herself to stand up, being idle for so long had made her leg stiffer than usual. 

She had had the brace on her leg for years now, since she was a child, but not many people even noticed it. After taking one look at the contraption the doctors had tried to make her wear, 16 year old Raven had scoffed in disgust before making her own, that was less noticeable, and easier to move around. Raven usually wore long pants around anyone who wasn’t her two friends. She was not ashamed of her brace, she was proud of it, she just did not want it to be the only thing that made her stand out to people. Peoples sorrow should be saved for the people who actually needed it. 

“Awwww Raven, I appreciate your ass” Octavia told her. 

“Me too boo” Clarke playfully patted Raven’s rear as she also followed her to a standing position and through the door that Octavia was now holding open.

“Well that’s better” Raven nodded as she rushed into the warmth of the building. 

“Shotgun O’s bed” Raven called from inside making Clarke giggle at the resulting sigh from Octavia.

“You guys are going to make me grey before I am 30” Octavia sighed, locking the door. 

“Yeah, but we can all be grey together” Clarke smiled as she sat down on the couch, turning on the television.

She wasn’t actually too tired despite the late hour. Raven had disappeared into Octavia’s room, Clarke wasn’t entirely sure why they bothered with separate bedrooms, and more often than not one of the trio would end up in another’s bed. Occasionally all three of them in the one bed, which had led to an extremely awkward situation at one point where Bellemy, Octavia’s older brother, had walked in while they were still sleeping and jumped to immediate conclusions. He hadn’t been able to look at Octavia for a week. It didn’t help that Octavia decided not to tell him how innocent the situation was, but instead opted to make him as uncomfortable as possible every time Raven or Clarke were present . 

"You staying up?” O called from the entrance to her room.

“Yeah, I am not too tired O, you knock yourself out though” Clarke called from the couch.

“Okay, just don’t be up too late” 

“Yes *mom*” 

“Seriously, you don’t want to be all bedridden and bags under your eyes for tomorrow” Octavia warned.

“What’s happening tomorrow?” Clarke asked confused. 

O didn’t get a chance to answer before Ravens voice drifted through the open door. 

“Clarke and Lexa sitting in a tree….. K-I-S-S-I-NG” singsonged. 

Clarke grabbed a cushion from the couch, chucking it to Octavia who caught it deftly and threw it forcefully through the door, at the singing. 

“OOf. Lame. Clarkes going on a dateeeeeee” Raven continued undeterred. 

Octavia looked helplessly through the door, and then turned back to Clarke.

“There goes the surprise part of the surprise date, but hey, we are taking you and Lexa out tomorrow” Octavia informed her. “So try and get your beauty sleep, you get all like…..drab when you are tired”

“Drab!?” Clarke gaped at her.

“I am only telling you because I love you.” Octavia called back at her as she closed the door to her room. 

Clarke sighed and relaxed back into the couch. Her friends were really…..something.  
She lie there watching the television for a few minutes, not really paying attention the ridiculous rom com that was gracing the screen before she clicked onto what Octavia had just said. She had a date tomorrow.  
Excitement and nervousness bubbled up inside of her as she wondered what would compel Lexa to agree to that, other than she supposed, getting their ‘first date’ stories to match up. She was going on a date with Lexa. She was taking Lexa on a date, She could be dating Lexa. Maybe she could do it, maybe she didn’t have to think about the make believe aspect of their relationship, she could just pretend for a while, that it isn’t pretend and that it doesn’t have to end and that maybe Lexa could like her too.  
Clarke groaned and lay her head back down closing her eyes and trying not to think of brown curls and green eyes as slowly sleep overcame her. 

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Bye Lexy"

Lexa heard the door shut and cringed slightly at the nickname. She reached the elevator and pressed the button marked with a down arrow as she took her phone out of the bag. She had turned it off shortly after arriving at Clarke’s apartment, figuring the three girls would require her full attention and had honestly forgotten about it until this point. She felt a twinge of guilt shiver through her at not thinking of Anya, or letting her know where she was. She was probably going to pay for that later. The elevator announced its presence with a slightly obnoxious chime as her phone slowly brought itself to life. 

By the time the messages started to come through, she was halfway to the ground floor. Her phone reverberated in her hand solidly for a while, Lexa patiently waited for the vibrations to stop, and by the time she had reached the ground, her phone had fallen silent. Almost apprehensively she checked her phone for notifications, and looked on in mild panic as the tiny screen was informing her she had 38 messages and 4 missed phone calls. 30 of the messages were from Anya, the other 8 messages and 3 of the calls were from someone else. 

Deciding that Anya was the easiest to deal with, Lexa called her roomates number, she didn’t have to wait long as on the 3rd ring Anya answered with a hopeful ring to her voice. 

“Lexa?” She heard through the phone

“Yeah, Anh its me” Lexa rubbed her eyes to try and wake herself up a little more as she walked out of the building, reaching a hand out and getting in the first cab that pulled over. 

“Lexa what the fuck! I was about to call the fucking police?” Lexa flinched at the shrill volume, giving the cab driver her address before focusing her conversation on Anya, who was still talking in her ear.  
“Seriously where the fuck have you been? And what’s this shit about you getting engaged to the Blonde princess?” Anya had said the nickname snidely and with intent to offend, but it just made Lexa smile at recalling the nickname O and Raven used for her current faux-ance’. 

Anya had been at Harvard with the girls, that’s how Lexa had gotten the job in the first place. Anya had helped out her elder sister , Indra, tutoring the younger students, and Octavia and Clarke were part of their study group. Octavia had risen to every challenge, but Lexa always got the feeling there was some rivalry between her best friend and the blonde. Trying to think of the bestway to handle the situation, Lexa hesitated slightly before answering. It would be easy to reassure Anya that this was all a ploy, and explain the whole situation from the get go, however she figured the less people knew the truth the easier it would be to handle with the press. So she steeled herself and tried to interrupt the incessant chatter Anya had taken up. 

“Woah woah woah Anya, Anh, just chill for a second yeah” 

“Whats going on Lex?” she could hear the sigh and eye roll in Anyas voice without even needing to be present. 

“I sort of got engaged” 

“Bullshit” The response was immediate, and Lexa swore to herself before renewing her vigor and pushing forward. If she could convince Anya, the rest of the world would be a cakewalk. 

“Seriously Anh, its happening”

“What the fuck is happening” 

“Clarke and I, we…” Lexa floundered a little trying to think of the most appropriate response, she and Clarke probably should have worked out a back story before parting, “we have been seeing each other for a while, an-“ 

“Since when” Anya cut her off abruptly. 

“Since, just after I started working at Skyview” Lexa hoped her nervousness wasn’t given away by the quiver in her voice. 

“Bullshit” 

“Seriously Anya, we met, I spilt coffee on her, it was all very cliché” Lexa joked, trying to add ease to the conversation as well as convince her best friend of what she was saying. 

“Coff-“ Anya sighed through the line, “of course you did, how people think you have game is anyones guess” 

“How dare you, I have game” Lexa let mock indignation slip into her voice. 

“How come I haven’t heard of this before?” She heard being asked accusingly. 

“We were trying to keep it under raps for the company sakes” Lexa floundered, hoping Clarke would be all right with the story she was weaving. 

“Lex, its me though” she could hear the hurt in Anyas voice and mentally reprimanded herself. 

“It wasn’t about you Anyh, it was just easier for us both to remain out of sight with the whole thing” she tried to reassure. “It all moved pretty fast since I spilled the hot chocolate on her, and I never really stopped to contemplate the situation” Lexa paused waiting for Anya to reply, her cab driver honked in annoyance at the traffic they were stuck in. 

“I thought you spilled coffee on her?” Anya asked accusingly. Lexas eyes widened in panic 

“Yeah I did, it was a, uh, mochocchino, you know half chocolate half coffee” she gave an unconvincing giggle. 

“Riiiiiiiiiiight” Anya droned, and Lexa could hear the challenge.

“Whats her favorite color Lex” Anya asked quickly. 

“Green” she answered immediately. 

“Favorite ice cream?”

“Strawberry shortcake” 

“Favorite movie” 

Lexa panicked. She had no idea. 

“Star Wars” she said as convincingly as possible. 

“No way!” Anya enthused. “I never pegged her for a star wars fan at school!” Lexas bestfriend was in no way a stranger to the franchise, and Lexa made a mental note to tell Clarke she had to enthuse about the movies if she ever met her wayward roommate. 

“That’s crazy, she always seemed like more of a Breakfast at Tiffanieskind of gal”

Lexa laughed uncomfortably at that  
.  
“Haha, yeah I know so weird right” she said. “Now can you stop with the twenty questions and just be happy for me” she asked. 

“I, yeah I just – “ she could hear Anya searching for words. “ This is very fast Lexa” she mothered. 

Lexa held her hand over the phone as she gestured to the cab driver to pull over as they reached the front of their shared bungalow. She tipped the driver and walked up to the front door as she replied to Anya. 

“I don’t think that matters when you feel something like this Anh” she told her roommate as she unlocked the door, leading straight into the lounge, were Anya was curled comfortable into a ball on the couch, the tv on mute casting a dull blue glow into the sparsely decorated room.  
Lexa hung up the phone as her bestfriend turned to face her. 

“I am happy Anya” she admitted with a small smile gracing her face. She stayed put by the door as Anya moved from her position on the couch slowly and walked over to Lexa, placing both hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes, she let Anya study her for a moment, before she pulled away reservedly. 

“Really, she makes me happy” she supplied, thinking back on the past weekend, and smiling to herself at all the memories. She felt a twinge of guilt at lying to Anya who had always been there for her. 

“She does” Anya acknowledged looking at Lexas face. Lexa just swallowed and nodded. 

“Seriously Anh, like this is a good thing” Lexa reassured her. 

“Okay, I trust you Lex” Anya relented. “ But I don’t forgive you for letting everyone on the internet know before me.”

With that Anya turned on her heel and stalked into the kitchen. Lexa let out the sigh she didn’t know she had been holding and followed the blonde girl into the kitchen, where Anya had already gotten out two wine glasses and was reaching for the bottle of wine they kept behind the fridge for emergencies. 

“Whatcha doing?” Lexa asked playfully. 

“What does it look like I am doing” Anya arched her eyebrow at Lexa before pointedly looking at the wine

“Looks like you are opening our bottle of wine” Lexa said taking the bottle from Anya’s hand before she could pull the cork

“Well yes, that would indeed be what I was doing” 

“I thought we were saving it” Lexa asked worriedly. 

The bottle of wine was nothing special, in fact it was barely worth $10, Anya and Lexa had bought it when they first moved in together , when it was all they could afford, vowing never to open it until such a time as they had achieved something special. IT was their version of chocolate and champagne. Just on a budget. 

“I think this would constitute something important Lex” Anya told her, retaking the bottle. ”You are getting married” Anya smiled at her, and Lexa felt another shiver of guilt but ignored it and nodded smiling. “I am so proud of you ” Anya told her stepping in to give Lexa a hug. 

Lexa let herself be pulled into the embrace. There were few people she was comfortable around, and they mostly narrowed down to her fierce roommate who was angry at almost everything, but never at Lexa but it was still rare for the two to hug each other, so Lexa ignored the guilt pressing at her and enjoyed the embrace of the smaller girl. 

“Just know if she hurts you I will cut her”

Lexa laughed loudly, stepping away from the hug, and moving to her kitchen drawer, taking out a bottle opener she handed it to Anya. 

“If you hurt her, I will cut you” Lexa laughed jokingly at her roommate.

“Right” Anya nodded, her focus on trying to pry the cork out of the bottle. As it popped she glanced approvingly at Lexa before pouring a substantial amount into each glass. She handed one of the glasses to Lexa and moved into the living room, sitting herself down on the only couch in the sparse room,as Lexa took up residence across from her, both of the girls brought their legs up and set them down in the middle cross legged.  
Anya held up her wine and inclined her head to Lexa, 

“To random as fuck engagements” she toasted, to which Lexa laughed and clinked her glass together with Anya’s, ignoring the accuracy of the toast. 

“And to being happy” Lexa supplied in good faith. Anya tipped her glass in Lexas direction before taking a long drink. Lexa followed suit and grimaces at the bitterness coating the back of her tongue. 

“Oh my god is that bad” Anya gagged at the same time that Lexa let her mouthful of wine dribble back into the glass with a grimace. 

“Why did we think that was a good idea” Lexa cringed.

“My tastebuds are sad now, oh my fucking god” Anya scowled at her drink. 

“Its okay, we ignore the failure, and vow to never attempt being classy again” Lexa told her taking Anya’s glass from her and moving to the kitchen. “Tea?” She asked through the wall, just hearing Anya’s muffled reply of ‘Duh yeah’ and busied herself with boiling the kettle in their small kitchen and setting out two mugs.  
Once the tea was done, she walked back into the lounge, handing one of the mugs to Anya, and repositioning herself at the foot of the couch.  
Anya took a deep breath over her cup and moaned wantonly into the cup. 

“Why is tea so damn good” She satisfied. To which Lexa just nodded along and stretched her leg out to the middle of the couch next the Anya’s curled up one’s 

"So, I want to hear everything, from the start but first..." Anya looked at Lexa seriously, " Does she know?"

Lexa sighed heavily,

“I would assume so, its all over the news” 

“How did she react?” Anya queried over her steaming mug. 

“I uh-“ Lexa fished her phone out of her pocket, “ I haven’t actually called her yet” 

“Oh.” 

“yeah”

“Shit” 

“yeah”

“you are not obligated to call her you know” Anya told her kindly

“I had 3 missed calls from her Anya” 

“Ahhh………ignore them?” Anya grinned hopelessly

Lexa sighed shaking her head, sooner rather than later she figured. She gulped loudly as she slowly hit the call button on the tiny button for the girl who she had received the majority of the missed calls and messages from. .  
Her phone wasn’t even halfway through the first ring when the call was picked up.

“Where the FUCK have you been Lexa” Panic stricken but laced with anger, the voice coming through the tiny speaker caused Lexa to gulp guiltily again. Before she forced as much cheerfulness into her voice as possible as she glanced over at Anya who just shrugged at her. 

“Hey Costia”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for people's sanity Lexa is NOT in a relationship with Costia currently. No cheating happened, a few people were worried about that possability, but our girl wouldn't do that . Have faith guys


	7. Preparations take time. And lots and lots of patience.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa's back story, and the girls help our girls prepare for their first date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a little bit of angst in our Lexa's backstory, and it wasn't intended i just got carried away.  
> ( tw!alcohol abuse, smoking and minor drug reference)   
> but i promise this fic is going to continute to be 90% fluffy goodness.  
> I continue to apologizes for the length of time between updates, i have taken up a summer internship, so add that onto working part time, and i am flat out. I am posting this at 3.16 am Australian time. Hopefully the length of this one makes up for the wait.

Chapter 7:  
*flashback*  
Lexa had known Anya for a very long time, they had gone to the same primary school, had the same teachers, and had the same ideas about life. Ever since Anya had saved Lexa from a stupid school bully when they were 11 years old they had been almost inseparable. Costia, was Anya’s big sister by a few years, and both Anya and Lexa had looked up to her, as all young children look up to someone older than them. She was the cool older sister that Lexa was jealous of Anya for getting. Lexa looked up to her, admired her, and as Anya grew up and realised her big sister was less than a good influence, Lexa remained infatuated by the girl. 

Costia was the representation of everything Lexa wanted to be, having just started high school, she saw a girl who was confident and proud in everything she did. She was open with her sexuality, wore leather and had the funniest stories about her drunken mistakes. Lexa idolized her for her confidence, to the point that as Anya matured and started to remove herself from her sisters influence, Lexa had wanted to know more and more about the older girl. 

After Anya had tried to talk to Lexa about how her idolisation might have less to do with sibling admiration, and more to do with how Lexa herself might feel about girls, Lexa had lashed out. She had known for a very long time that she liked girls like she was supposed to like boys, but that didn’t mean anyone else needed to know about it. She was teased enough at school. So instead of confronting how she felt, Lexa left Anya, with anger swirling through her and stubbornness filling her to the brim, she had walked to the garden area where Costia was sat with a group of her friends. 

It started out innocently enough at first, at 16 years old Lexa had turned from Anya without a word, and turned to Costia. Costia who had just smiled at her and offered her a cup of liquid that burned her throat and made her head dizzy. She had taken the drink gladly, and relished how it hurt her throat. She saw Costia smile at her and felt pride fill her. 

After a month, Anya and Lexa still hadn’t spoken since that night, but Lexa couldn’t bring herself to remember why that should upset her when Costia was still smiling at her, and still offering her drinks. They had stopped burning her throat, so Lexa had started drinking more, at some point during one of the nights Costia had offered her a cigarette with smile, which she took gladly. The cigarette burnt worse than the drinks had, but Costia was still smiling at her, and it was enough to keep Lexa from noticing that Anya had seen the interaction, and was shaking her head sadly from the corner. She forgot all about her former friend as smoke swirled around her eyes and clouded her mind and her vision. 

A month after that Costia had taken her to bed. Lexa was drunk, and Costia tasted like an ashtray and another boys mouth, but she burned more than everything else, and Lexa, being too young to understand what love was, figured that the fire consuming her was what happily ever after was meant to feel like. She woke up to an empty bed, and empty bottles, but could distract herself by smoking and drinking. If she did it enough, the haziness in her mind could feel like love. 

Months after that, Costia had a girlfriend of her own, someone her own age, and Lexa could smile and pretend like it didn’t hurt. Sometimes it didn’t, because Costia still smiled at her, whenever Lexa brought her a drink, or offered her a cigarette that she had now taken to carrying around. She was only 17 and she was falling behind in class, she hadn’t spoken to Anya in months, but it didn’t matter. Costia would smile at her when her girlfriend wasn’t around.  
She still took Lexa to bed, when her girlfriend was away or distracted by something. She would kiss Lexa and she would smile at her and Lexa would smile back. 

Then one night, 7 or so months after Lexa had been offered her first drink by Costia, she was tagging along to some college party, Costia dragging her by the hand, but before they had entered, Costia turned to her and offered her a small yellow pill. Lexa had taken it and looked at Costia, who wasn’t smiling at her anymore. She hadn’t smiled at her in a while. So Lexa blocked out the voice in the back of her head, the voice that sounded a lot like Anya, and she swallowed the small pill. Costia smiled at her. Lexa was content to burn for her. 

That was the last time Costia smiled at her, and Lexa tried harder and harder. She started skipping school, she was buying cigarettes and alcohol from cheap vendors who never bothered to check I.Ds, until finally her parents gave up on her. 

After a particularly bad fight with her parents, Lexa had shown up at Anya’s doorstop, tears streaming down her face, and swaying slightly. Clutching to a half empty bottle of whisky like it was a life raft. Anya had opened the door and looked at her with such pity, it made Lexa feel ill. 

“Oh, Lexa” she had sighed despondently, but Lexa ignored her, moving straight inside and stumbling her way to Costia’s room.  
She hadn’t bothered knocking, just lurched into the room, looking at the older girl, who sat on her bed with smudged eye liner and sunken eyes. 

“My parents kicked me out” Lexa had choked out. 

Costia had just laughed. 

“That fucking sucks kid” she had said. 

Lexa looked at her for a moment, Costia hadn’t looked at her yet. 

“Look at me Costia” she had whispered angrily. The older girl dragged her eyes up to Lexas lazily, and Lexa couldn’t take the eye contact, she dropped her head in shame. 

“I love you” Lexa had whispered, staring at the ground.

“I know” 

“You know.” It wasn’t a question. 

“Yeah, I know.” 

Lexa had nodded slowly. 

“I can’t do this anymore” she said turning towards the door. 

“Good for you kid”

Lexa exited the room a little more steady than she had entered and knocked at the bedroom door belonging to Anya, except when it opened she didn’t know what to say. 

She hadn’t spoken to her best friend in almost a year, and as tears streamed down her face she could only muster a choked out ‘sorry’ before she descended into body wracking sobs that brought her to her knees. Anya didn’t turn her away, she knelt down next to her wayward friend and pulled Lexa’s heaving body into her own, Lexa felt Anya’s hand stroking through her hair and the action was so gentle and careful, it didn’t burn her at all. It was comforting and it stayed in her hair until her tears dried. 

Without a word, Anya had taken Lexa to the bathroom, and sat her on the floor as she started to fill up the bathtub. 

Lexa had stayed on the floor, staring vacantly at the white wall, her mind surprisingly empty for all of the emotions her body had just put her through, but there were no more tears coming. She realised after a moment that she was still holding the half full whisky bottle, and looked at it with something akin to disgust. She stood shakily, nodding to Anya that it was all right so her friend would turn her worried gaze back to the bath, Lexa stumbled over to the toilet bowl, opening the bottle carefully, and without hesitation poured the remnants of the bottle down the drain. She dropped the bottle on the mat and fumbled in the pocket of her leather jacket before she found an almost full packet of cigarettes, which she also up ended into the toilet. 

“I will be better Anya” she had vowed in a broken whisper. 

Anya had stood up and hugged her again, and Lexa let her unclothe her and guide her to sit in the warm water of the bath. The water didn’t burn her, it was barely warm but it was comforting, and as Anya slowly washed her face and body of its grime, Lexa let the last year of her life wash away down the drain with her vices. 

They stayed like that for hours, Anya didn’t leave her once and Lexa almost cried again at how dedicated her friend was, she would never be able to thank her enough, or express how much Anya meant to her. And as morning light shone through the window, it was like the last year hadn’t happened at all.  
Anya had smirked at her just like she used to.

“I don’t think you can flush cigarettes down the toilet”

Lexa had grunted and half smiled, the first real grin she had given in a very long time 

“Was a metaphor” she mumbled. 

“Well, if your metaphor breaks my toilet you are buying me a new one” 

Lexa nodded and looked up at her friend. 

“Thank you” She had whispered, and honestly it wasn’t fair, Anya deserved a lot more than that. But right now all Lexa cared about was that she had been forgiven. 

Anya nodded, understanding what Lexa was trying to tell her. 

“Okay, now that you don’t smell like my sister, or whiskey, or smoke, how about we get you to bed?” Anya had asked her gently. 

 

*********present day************

 

It had taken Lexa a while after that time to realise what Anya had known from the begging. Costia was using her. She was young and easily manipulated and Costia had known from the beginning how Lexa felt. It had almost cost her everything. Luckily Anya had forgiven her, and after months of hard work and summer school she had caught up to school, and once her parents realised she was staying sober they had allowed her back with tearful eyes and open arms. 

It was a long time after that point of her life when Lexa felt it was okay to drink again, but even now, 12 years later, she couldn’t drink whiskey. Even the smell of it made her sick to the stomach.  
It was an even longer time until Lexa felt she could be around Costia, until she could trust herself to be around Costia. But the first time Lexa had seen the older girl, 4 years after their time together, she felt nothing but sadness for her. While Lexa had learned from her mistakes , and had leant on her parents and Anya to let her grow to become a better person, Costia never had done that. 

Anya and Lexa had tried a few times to help her, but it just lead to false promises from the older girl, and drunken claims over Lexa’s affections. Costia could be spiteful, Lexa didn’t blame her for it, and alcohol makes people the worst version of themselves when drank to excess, and Costia hated every time Lexa found a partner, or went on a date. Lexa and Anya had grown used to the older girls antics by now, and though it was a horrible thing to become accustomed to, both of them had stopped being surprised at her actions long ago. Once at 16, Lexa had wanted nothing more than to be like the older girl, and now at 28, Lexa felt nothing but overwhelming sadness and pity for her. 

So naturally, after Lexa and Clarke’s proposal went nationwide almost instantly, she was not looking forward to the following phone call. 

“Where the FUCK have you been?” Costia’s voice blared through the tiny phone on loudspeaker. 

“Hey Costia” Lexa sighed down the line, rolling her eyes at Anya.

“I am outside” Costia’s voice was cold and quiet. “Come and let me in” she hung up.

Lexa’s eyes widened in panic, and she looked over to her friend for help, but Anya just shrugged with equally wide eyes, before sighing and removing herself from her seat. Lexa gulped as Anya walked over to the door and unlocked it, she didn’t even have a chance to open it before Costia was barrelling through. 

“Where is she?”

Anya gestured to the lounge room. “And hello to you too big sis, always a pleasure” Anya told her dryly. 

Lexa quickly schooled her thoughts into order and prepared herself to meet the angry girl. Costia was smaller than both her and Anya, she used to have a smoother rounded face to combat Lexa and  
Anya and their sharp edges, but years of drinking and smoking had taken the apple-ness out of her, and left her gaunt and sharp. 

“Lexa” Costia swiftly moved over to her and pulled her up from the couch, pulling her into a tight hug, Lexa stiffened awkwardly in the embrace, the smell of rum washing over her and invading her nostrils, but she allowed the hug for a few seconds before pushing Costia away. 

“What are you doing here Cos” she sighed as she sat back down, thankful that Anya had quickly reclaimed the other side of the couch, which left Costia sat in the single seat across the way from them. 

“I saw you on the news”. She said, seeming like all her anger had evaporated in an instant.” 

“Yeah, Cos, I’m getting married” Lexa told her with a smile on her face. Showing her hand where the ring Clarke had given her what felt like years ago, but was only a few days ago in actuality, it glinted in the dim lighting. Anya gripped her shoulder reassuringly.

“But, what about me?” Costia asked, and Lexa almost felt badly for her, at 33, not a lot about Costia had changed from when she was 21, except all the friends that she had surrounded herself with had grown up and moved on from that life. 

“Cos, this was never about you. I made this decision with my heart, not my head. I wasn’t thinking too much of anything except getting to marry the girl I love” Lexa told her gently, but with enough feeling that Costia wouldn’t question it. 

Costia just deflated more into herself at hearing that. 

“But you were mine” she almost slurred the words. 

“That was a long time ago Costia, I’ve grown up a lot since then” Lexa glanced at Anya, who rolled her eyes. This wasn’t the first time this conversation had gone down, the first couple of times both girls had felt guilty during the whole conversation, and tried to handle the drunken older girl. After a few years, it was easier and quicker just to be blunt. In all fairness Costia wouldn’t remember in the morning regardless 

“Right. I guess I just. Panicked. Sorry” 

Lexa almost felt sorry for the girl. Almost. 

“It’s okay, Cos, how about we get you home okay?” Lexa asked gently. “How did you even get here?” 

“Um. Friend. Drove me” 

“Okay sis, let’s get you home” Anya stood up and Lexa helped her pull Costia from the chair, and together they carried her outside, and place her across the back seats of the Lexa’s car. 

“You know you will probably have to have another conversation with her when she is sober right?” Anya asked her with a raised eyebrow. 

Lexa nodded along. 

“Yeah, but let’s just get her home okay” 

“I got this Lex, you head to bed” Anya shut the car door on her sister, and hugged her best friend. 

“I am so proud of you Lexa” she said, and Lexa squeezed her tighter for a second before letting go and nodding to Anya thankfully. 

“Even though I never bought you that new toilet?” Lexa asked jokingly. 

“Even then, Now go to bed Shortstack, you have a date with your fiancé tomorrow” Anya waggled her eyebrows at Lexa. “God knows you need all the beauty sleep you can get” 

Lexa playfully bopped Anya on the head, before heading back inside. 

She had no issues with the past, and no desire to bring anything from that life back up, so Lexa resolved to just keep looking forward, and make tomorrow the best damn day she could possibly have. 

 

**************************************************************************

“Clarke, please dear god, for all that is holy, just pick something!”  
Octavia had been avoiding the whirlwind that was Clarke Griffin pre-first-date, but it could only be ignored for so long. The small girl sighed, poking her head through the open doorway of Clarkes bedroom and took in the sight waiting for her. A mountainous pile of clothes were stacked haphazardly on the mattress to the side of the room, with a confused looking Raven at atop The Pile like a throne. Clarke was glaring angrily at The Pile with a furrowed brow as she paced back and forth, as if she were waiting for the perfect outfit to float out of the mess and into her waiting arms. 

“How’s it going in here girls?” She asked without much hope of a positive answer. 

Raven’s expression turned from confused to relief as Octavia announced her presence. 

“Oh thank fuck for that.” She hoped off the throne of clothes and landed with a thud on the floor. 

“I tap out, your turn” Raven grabbed a hold of one of Octavia’s hands with her own, tapping it gently with the other before dashing from the room as quick as she could manage without her brace on. 

“Sorry Blondie” she yelled from outside the door to the bedroom, but Clarke hadn’t even ceased pacing yet. Octavia followed Ravens adorable bumbling retreat until she was out of sight before slowly approaching Clarke, keeping her hands in front of her in a cautionary stance. As she got closer to her distracted roommate she could hear the girl quietly mumbling to herself as she paced. 

“I can’t wear pants, that would be too business casual”

Turn, pace. 

“Maybe Lexa likes that.”

Pace, turn.

“Maybe a pantsuit…”

Turn, pace.

“No not a pantsuit that would be ridiculous, a skirt!”’

Pace, Turn.

“I don’t own any skirts”

Turn, Pace. 

“OCTAVIA I NEED TO BORROW A SKIRT” Clarke shouted turning fully, and almost seemed startled to see Octavia a few feet from her, with her hands in a defensive position.

“Hey Clarkey” she said quietly and gently so as not to startle her friend, “How you doing?” she asked lightly. 

“I have nothing to wear” Clarke replied, starting her pacing back up. 

“My skirts won’t fit you hon” Octavia told her, and Clarke nodded her understanding absentmindedly. She stopped pacing when she was next to Octavia. 

“Of course they won’t you are tiny” Clarke practically hit herself, she had no idea why she didn’t think of that. “RAVEN I NEED A SKIRT” Clarke yelled right next to Octavia who winced and stuck a finger  
dramatically in her ear. 

Octavia glanced at the mountain – literal mountain- of clothes on the bed before shaking her head slowly. 

“Raven doesn’t own any skirts either.” She placed a calming hand on her mess of a friend, and was about to suggest some ideas when Clarke started rambling, all but ignoring Octavia. 

“Okay, no skirts” Clarke nodded and turned back to The Pile. 

Octavia appraised The Pile too, and reached over picking up a cute dress she remembered Clarke wearing to some fancy Skyview event a month or so back.

“You look cute in this.” 

Clarke deadpanned at her. 

“I don’t want to look Cute O!”

“Why not, Cute is adorable!” Octavia admonished. 

“No, Bambi is cute, I don’t want to be Bambi. No one wants to fuck Bambi.” Clarke told her pointedly. 

“Isn’t that more of a third date kind of deal Princess?” Octavia smirked but Clarke just waved her off. 

“You know what I mean, I don’t want to be cute” 

“Well tough pancakes because you, my dear, are adorable” Octavia pinched one of Clarkes cheeks and baby faced her until her friend shover her hand away and gestured helplessly to The Pile. 

“Not. Helping. O” 

“Okay what about this one” the shorter girl asked pulling out a slim dress from the pile

“Too sexy, I don’t want to be slutty.” Clarke was shaking her head. 

“You just said you wanted to look fuckable” Octavia pointed out. 

“I said I didn’t want to look un-fuckable, there is totally a difference” 

“There is a difference O” Raven called out as she walked past the bedroom, box of dry cereal in her hands and mouth full of Captain Crunch. 

“Okay, something that is not cute. But not Sexy” Octavia glared at The Pile with determination. 

“Here, what about this” she beamed, having found an elegant, not cute, not sexy but perfectly in the middle outfit. 

“Oh my god that looks like my mother would wear it” Clarke sighed dramatically before flopping face down onto The Pile. Octavia barely heard her muffled voice call through the mess. 

“Why do I have nothing to wear?” 

Octavia couldn’t help but roll her eyes, and laugh at her friend, because really, other than herself she didn’t know anybody who owned more clothes than Clarke. 

Clarke lifted her head from her self-induced pity party as Raven walked into the room, still carrying her box of cereal around, frowning only a little at Octavia when the younger girl stole a handful of Crunch from the box. She clung to her cereal tighter but arched an eyebrow towards Clarke and The Pile. 

“Clarke. You own more clothes than my entire family combined,” She started, Octavia nodding along with a mouth full of cereal, “that being said, you have nothing to wear” 

Octavia looked at her other friend curiously, wondering where she was going with this. 

“So-“Raven glanced at Octavia, offering her with only a little reluctance the cereal box noticing how the smaller girl had finished her handful  
“Here is the plan of action” she pointed at Octavia, while keeping eye contact with Clarke. “Your second-best-friend in the whole world is going to take you out to find something kind of cute, kind of sexy, and kind of not-your-motherish”

Octavia nodded her affirmation, pleased both with the prospect of a shopping trip and with the fresh handful of Captain Crunch she had procured. 

“And I am going to hold down the fort and make sure everything is in order for tonight” Raven finished quickly, winking at Octavia before taking a hold of both of her friends hands and dragging them to the door. She picked up both of the girls purses on the way past them in the hall, and handed each roommate one before pushing them out into the hall. Clarke barely had time to snatch some captain crunch before a hasty ‘good luck!’ was being yelled from behind a slammed door. 

Clarke looked at Octavia in shock.

“Did we just get kicked out of our own apartment?” she asked with raised eyebrows. 

“I think we might have” Octavia linked their arms together. “Looks like we are going shopping girlfriend”

Clarke’s realisation that she was about to be put through an Octavia shopping trip sunk in, and groaned into her other hand. 

“Why do I never have anything to wear?” Clarke’s voice carried down the hallway accompanied by an evil cackle tha could only belong to Octavia. 

 

Raven waited with her ear pressed against the door until the sounds of her two friends had disappeared before grabbing her own wallet and keys and exiting the apartment, locking it behind her. 

#Boss number 2: I am coming over. Be clothed. #

She sent off the quick message before exiting the building and hailing a cab.

**************************************************************************************

 

That morning Lexa had woken up nervous. Terrified even. Tonight she was going out with Clarke. Clarke who Lexa did not even know how to begin to describe. 

Clarke who was clumsy, and adorable and spilt coffee all over herself the first time they met. 

Clarke who was poetic and romantic and could talk about her eyes forever. 

Clarke who was cheeky and fun and would propose to an almost stranger just for a laugh. 

Clarke who was sexy and a fantastic kisser and would make out with her on Octavia’s grandmothers couch. 

Clarke who was hardworking and dedicated and ran her own company. 

Clarke who Lexa wasn’t meant to be falling for. 

Clarke who Lexa was falling for anyway. 

So yeah, nervous was an understatement. The fact that she was going on a date with Clarke wasn’t even what had her the most nervous, not it was the fact that said date was being organised by the dynamic duo that was Raven and Octavia, having only known the girls for a short time, at least in something other than a business capacity, Lexa could already see that letting the two of them plan, anything, together would be a very very brave decision.

She had spent half the day trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that Lexa thought people were supposed to stop getting after they passed the age of 22, but after countless tossing and turning in bed, and cleaning the house twice fold, and only after Anya had threatened her with bodily harm if she didn’t ‘sit the fuck down’ did Lexa try to calm herself. 

“Seriously, you are already engaged to the women, you are acting like you’ve never been out before” Anya sighed exasperatedly after 40 minutes of watching the girl try to clean the same surface over and over again. 

Lexa had coughed awkwardly from her place next to the coffee table. 

“Yeah, this is the first date as my fiancé though” Lexa told her, because hey, it was technically true. 

“Well you need to calm your shit, or take it someplace else, I fear for our apartments safer. There are so many ultra-bleaching’s this old girl can handle” Anya guided her to the couch, and placed a cup of tea into her friends hand before placing a quick kiss on her forehead and heading out for work. 

Lexa sat on the couch for 7 and a half minutes. 

Really that was a record. 

Eventually she decided she had to get the pent up energy out and walked towards the only other room in the house besides the two bedrooms and the kitchen/lounge. 

Anya and her didn’t have much in their little apartment, but they both agreed when they had moved in that in lieu of getting a third roommate, they would use the spare room, also the larger of the three, as their makeshift gym. A treadmill sat against one wall, a bench press against another, and in the centre of the room, Lexa had hung her worn down punching bag, it was her stress relief.  
In an effort to work out the nerves she felt, she had turned to the punching bag. She lost herself in the music and the reputation and allowed herself to feel the pleasure from the stain in her muscles... Lexa’s phone buzzed and lit up from its place on a shelf at the corner of the room but Lexa didn’t notice it, she was too focused on the thrill of the music pounding through her ears and the feel of the heavy punching bag against her gloved hands, she had already broken out in a light sweat 

After 40 minutes she was interrupted from her exercise when the doorbell to the apartment rang, cutting through the music blasting through her head phones. She quickly put one of the gloves into her mouth, and used her teeth to tear the strap off, pulling the glove off as she did the same to the other hand. The doorbell rang again, several times as Lexa quickly grabbed her bottle of water and half jogged to the door. Expecting somebody selling her something or trying to convert her to a religion, seriously no one she knew rang the doorbell, they all just walked in, or phoned ahead.  
Composing herself as much as she could despite being covered in sweat and barely clothed, Lexa wiped her brow and opened up the door, revealing Raven standing with a cheeky grin on the other side. 

“Well hot damn diggity” Raven whistled at her appreciatively, taking in a sweaty post workout Lexa. 

“God damn commander, I think you are marrying the wrong friend” Raven told her unabashedly raking her eyes down Lexa before winking well naturedly at the girl. Lexa rolled her eyes at her new friend and and opened the door wider. 

“What are you doing at my apartment Raven” she asked with a slight smile and a hint of confusion. “Octavia told me you were coming at 4, and its only” she glanced down at her watch, “its only 12:30?” 

“Yeah well, the girls are driving me crazy” Raven told her as she sidled past Lexa. “And you guys are not going out for hours yet so to prevent bodily harm, either to them or me I wasn’t too sure, you are going to keep me company until it is date time” She informed Lexa moving slowly down the unfamiliar hallway until she found the living room. 

“Right, yeah sure” Lexa said awkwardly, shutting the door and following the other girl through to her lounge. “Make yourself at home” 

“Don’t mind if I do” Raven grinned at her and plonked down onto the couch, stretching out her bad leg until it rested on the coffee table. Lexa smiled at her and moved past the couch into the kitchen, picking up a slouched jumper from the counter she donned the clothing and walking to the fridge she grabbed two beers before placing them both on the table. She handed one of the drinks to Raven, then opened up a small drawer in the coffee table and handed her a white X-box controller as well. 

“I like the way you think Lexa” 

Lexa smirked as she sat down next to Raven and cracked her own drink, taking a refreshing sip and started setting up the game.

“I am actually glad you are here you know” Lexa told her after a moment as they waited for their generic first person shooter loaded. 

“Of course you are, it’s me” Raven replied immediately. Lexa let out a laugh 

“Naturally” she smiled, “but seriously, the girls may be driving you crazy, but I was driving myself crazy” 

“Aww, is that you’re way of saying you liiiiike me” Raven teased joyfully. 

“Don’t get your hopes up Reyes” Lexa scoffed at her. 

“So the girls are driving you crazy then?” Lexa stated, watching as Raven lifted the hem of her pant leg, and placed the bottle against her brace, popping the lid of it with ease. 

“Handy” she acknowledged, lifting her drink to cheers. 

Raven clinked back and took a large gulp of her drink. 

“You have no idea oh my god” she started. “I don’t know what the difference between beige and off white is, but apparently it’s a lot” Raven informed her as Lexa chuckled.  
“And I don’t understand what the difference between wearing a skirt, and wearing shorts that look like a skirt is” She said exasperatedly. 

“Sounds like a fun morning” Lexa laughed, both girls attentions turned towards the screen as their game started. 

“Hell no, but anyway, Its O’s problem now, god help her, I am hoping you are significantly easier to deal with pre first date” Raven glanced sideways at her and Lexa swallowed, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous that she had a moment ago. She was terrified for this date, but terrified in a good way. 

“Yeah totally, It’s just to get the story straight right?” she joked uncomfortably, but before she could blink Raven had paused their game, and turned to face her. She reached over and took Lexas drink out of her hands and placed both their drinks on the table. 

“Let’s cut the crap Lex” Raven told her seriously. And Lexa didn’t really know what to say. But upon seeing Lexa’s apprehension Raven softened her face and turned the game back on. After a few moments, Raven continued though. 

“This isn’t just about the cameras is it?” Raven asked almost gently, and Lexa contemplated lying, but realised she couldn’t even talk to Anya about this right now, so Raven was one of the only people she could talk to, and though she had known Octavia longer, and worked with her more intently, Raven seemed like the most comfortable person to talk with. Plus it helped that she could focus on something other than the conversation they were having, placing her attention in something else meant that she could pretend what she was saying wasn’t as life altering as it felt, because it came second to whatever she was paying attention to. She was grateful to raven that she had turned the game on so she could focus on what to say. 

She took a deep breath, and glanced sideways at Raven, but Raven was invested in the screen, tongue sticking out of her mouth sideways and brow furrowed in concentration. 

“I like her” she admitted quietly, and it was like as she spoke those words out loud, all of the anxiety and worry she was feeling about the date evaporated. 

Raven was smiling then and when Lexa glanced at her again, she felt even more at ease. Focusing on their game she pushed forward. 

“Actually I really like her” Raven stayed silently, nodding gently that she should continue, so Lexa told her. 

“I really like her, and I know that’s ridiculous, because we met like 2 days ago but this weekend has been amazing, and tonight is going to be amazing, and this all won’t work because there are cameras in the way, and a stupid fake engagement to complicate it all, and no way that she will know that this is real for me, and to Clarke it’s just a publicity stunt” she finished almost sadly, realising what she had just sad, she looks up at Raven with a worried glance only to find Raven still grinning with her signature open mouthed cocky grin. 

The duo focused on completing a level, which they managed with ease Lexa noted with admiration, and it was a few minutes before Raven replied to her miniature rant. 

“You like the girl” Raven exclaims, Lexa can almost hear the smile trying to burst through.

“Yeah, Rae, I like the girl” Lexa sighed. 

“Easy Solution here Lex” Raven told her as a new loading screen came up. Lexa glanced at her with eyebrows raised.

“Let’s get you the girl” Raven picked her bottle back up and took a long drag as she settled back in her seat like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

“It’s not that simple Rae, I-“Lexa was cut off when Ravens finger went across her mouth. 

“Hush. Let’s get you the girl” She repeated, and Lexa was about to reply when Raven raised an eyebrow at her, “Lexa” she warned, “we are getting you the girl.” 

Lexa nodded and Raven sat back down. 

“Right, now that boring sappy stuff is done with, lets kick this games ass” 

*****************************************************************************************************************************88

“Okay what about this one” Clarke asked, leaving the dressing room, in the worst monstrosity Octavia had ever seen. Seriously. It was mustard yellow. And had ruffles. She glared at her friend in frustration. 

“Clarke that is easily the ugliest thing that has ever been on your body, and you used to date Finn” 

Clarke cocked her head to one side in exasperation. 

“Seriously O?” 

Octavia shrugged from her seat in the middle of the dressing room, surrounded by mirrors and discarded outfits. 

“You are meant to be helping me” Clarke accused, stomping over to sit next to her friend, placing her head in her hands. 

“Honey, honey” Octavia told her gently removing Clarkes hands from her own face and turning her head to one of the many mirrors. 

“Look at what you put on your body” She said gently. 

“Oh my god” 

“See” Octavia told her with a kind smile. “I am helping you” she gestured to all of Clarke, “I am helping you realise that this is not a good look.”

Clarke sighed heavily. 

“You should probably just pick something, you are better at this than I am” 

Octavia cocked her head thoughtfully. 

“Well I wouldn’t say better-“she started but Clarke looked at her with an ‘oh really’ look and she shrugged “but I will say I picked this out about 2 disasters in, and payed for it a few disasters ago” she grinned widely pulling out a bag from behind the seat she was sat on. 

“How long were you going to sit on that?” Clarke asked accusingly.

“As long as it took for you to admit I was better than you at something” Octavia told her smugly. 

Clarke playfully smacked her on the head, but gratefully took the proffered bag, and left a kiss on Octavia’s forehead before retreating into the room. 

Warrior Blake xx: Finally have an outfit picked out, how’s the commander going

Ravenclaw <3: About time, commander is mildly panicking, nothing old Reyes can’t fix, at least her outfit was already picked out: p

Warrior Blake xx: So you have the easy job, and I get stuck with hurricane griffin? How did that work out? 

Ravenclaw <3: In my favour obviously: P 

Warrior Blake xx: Obviously -. - You are lucky you were blessed with a cute face to make up for your stubborn personality. 

Ravenclaw <3: Are you saying I am cute? : P 

Warrior Blake xx: Shut up. 

Ravenclaw <3: you totally are: D

Warrior Blake xx: Go sort out the commander. 

Ravenclaw <3: Yes ma’am.

Octavia glanced up but Clarke hadn’t returned from the dressing room yet, and she felt her phone buzz again. 

Ravenclaw <3 I think you are cute too. 

“Who are you smiling at” Clarke asked her, having exited the changing room, having successfully removed the hideous garment adorning her body and replacing it with the dress Octavia had picked out. Octavia looked up from her phone quickly, wiping the smile of her face. 

“Just Raven being her ridiculous self” she said throwing her phone to the side. “And you look damn fine girl” She said appreciatively taking in her friend. 

The dress she had picked was short, but not sleazy, it was white and silver and sparkling and covered the top of Clarke’s shoulders. It showed off her friend’s legs and figure without being too revealing. 

“I am awesome” Octavia nodded to herself, and then gave herself a high five. 

Clarke moved her gaze from where she was looking at her reflection to stare at Octavia in the mirror. 

“Did you just self-five yourself” 

“No” Octavia had the courtesy to look a little embarrassed, but brushed past it quickly. 

“So, what do you think? 

Clarke looked appraisingly at herself in the mirror again.

“I think you are the best at this O” she said with only some hesitance. 

“Damn straight” she smiled, and Clarke returned to the dressing room to take her new dress off. 

When she returned Octavia linked their arms and they started walking through the shopping precinct, stopping when they came to an outside garden area with a juice bar. They both ordered a cup and then walked through the floral area before sitting down at a bench. 

“So now that we have a banging outfit, do you want to talk about it? Octavia asked her in between sips of her drink. 

“Talk about what?” Clarke asked and just received a pointed look and silence from Octavia. 

“Right” Clarke took a long sip from her straw before continuing, and she turned so she could face Octavia more fully. 

“I am worried about the date.” Clarke offered up reluctantly. 

“Because?” 

Clarke sighed. 

“Because I might make a fool of myself” she admitted

“And?”

“And I am worried that I might start to like her”

Octavia rolled her eyes

“And that is a problem because?”

“Because I practically forced her into this mess of a fake relationship”

Octavia clicked onto where Clarkes head was then, she knew her friend could be oblivious sometimes but to what extent? 

“And you think she might not like you like that.” Octavia asked

“Well. Yeah” Clarke shrugged self-consciously. 

“Okay Clarke, truth time” Octavia took both of her friends hands in her own, rubbing soothing circles over the backs. 

“That girl is going to like you just as much as you like her” Octavia started with confidence, making sure to keep eye contact with Clarke. “If-“she saw Clarke raise an eyebrow, -“If you be you” Octavia could see the hint of confusion in her friends eyes so she elaborated. 

“When have you ever let anyone make you nervous” she asked arching an eyebrow. “Never” she answered her own question. 

“You are Clarke Griffin, you make everyone else nervous, you just have to believe that you are the best damn person we know, and own that” Octavia smiled at her reassuringly.  
“My advice?” Octavia smirked “forget about the fact that you proposed to her after like half a day, and forget that decided that this was pretend before it even started, forget everything except the fact that you are going out with a gorgeous girl, and you are wearing a gorgeous dress, and you are fucking Clarke Griffin.”

Clarke laughed and nodded. 

“And if you play your cards right, it might be Lexa that is fucking Clarke Griffin” Octavia maintained a straight face for a split second after finishing that sentence before dissolving into a fit of raucous laughter. 

“Classy O” Clarke smiled at her. “Way to ruin the moment we were having” she laughed at her younger friend. 

“You love me anyway” Octavia brushed away her admonishment.

“Yeah, I really do you know” 

“Of course I know, it’s me, I am awesome” Octavia smiled before standing up and offering her arm to Clarke. 

“Now let’s go get you your girl” 

******************************************************************************************8

 

Ravenclaw <3: Please hurry up and bring Blondie, Lexa is almost worse than her

Warrior Blake xx: We are on our way oh my god, Clarke couldn’t decide what lipstick to wear, twice. What is wrong with these girls? 

Ravenclaw <3: They are in looooooove

Warrior Blake” xx: God help us when they realise that

Ravenclaw <3: god help the world. 

“Okay, Blondie is on her way, how do you feel” Raven asked as she looked up from her phone at Lexa who had taken to pacing back and forth about 20 minutes ago. The action was so reminiscent of Clarke that morning that it brought a smile to Ravens face. 

“Are you sure this looks okay?” Lexa ignored Ravens question, self-consciously pulling down the button up shirt she was wearing, it was the fanciest thing in her wardrobe and she still felt like she would be underdressed. She had put on a blazer over it, and hoped that Clarke would like it. 

“You looks smoking Commander” Raven sighed for the third time that afternoon. 

Lexa shot Raven a glare at the nickname and pointed accusingly at her.

“That is NOT catching on” 

“I don’t know about that, I think it suits you” Raven smirked at her. “But seriously. What’s the sitch with the whole nerves thing you have going on right now” she gestured at the pacing pall of anxiety that was Lexa at this moment. 

“Terrible, I am hoping if I ignore it it will go away.” Lexa resumed her pacing.

“Ahh the healthy solution to all of life’s problems.” Raven chuckled. 

“Where are we going anyway” Lexa asked suddenly. 

Raven stood up from the couch and stretched out her legs, massaging around her brace gently, before walking over to Lexa and handing her an envelope.  
Lexa looked at her and arched an eyebrow questioningly.

“What’s this Rae?” she asked. 

“It’s obviously a bag of dicks,” Raven replied sarcastically. “It’s a damn envelope Lex, open it up” she gestured impatiently

Lexa turned her attention to the envelope and opened it up. Looking inside she found two tickets which she pulled out to inspect closer. 

“Oh my god!” Lexa gasped, turning with wide eyes at Raven. 

There were two tickets to a fancy Acrobatics and Ballet act that was touring the world at the moment, Anya and Lexa had wanted to go, but couldn’t justify paying 2 months of rent on a night of entertainment. 

“What the fuck Raven, Don’t you have to book months in advance for this shit?” Lexa gaped at her. 

“Yeah, I thought something might have come up for me to use them,” Raven awkwardly rubbed one hand through her hair, “, but it didn’t, so I am gifting them to you” She bowed graciously at the other girl 

“No way, no not at all, that’s too much Rae” Lexa tried to hand them back.

“Ahh hah no take backsies!” Raven jumped backwards incredibly agile despite her brace. 

“I really don’t know what to say, I could never afford to-“ 

“You don’t say anything, and you don’t have to worry about it, seriously, besides I don’t like the ballet anyway so no loss on my part” Raven cut her off with a shrug. 

“But don’t let O see them, she loves that shit and she WILL steal them from you.” Raven laughed pointedly. 

Lexa tucked the tickets into the pocket of the jacket she was wearing, and surprised Raven by pulling her into a hug warmly. 

“Ew, feelings” Raven joked but hugged the younger girl back.

“Thanks Rae, seriously, I appreciate it” 

“Awwww, Lexi stop it now you will make me blush” Raven playfully shoved Lexa away just as the doorbell rang and Octavia’s muffled voice called out. 

 

“For god sakes open the damn door otherwise I am going to stab her” 

Lexa walked quickly to the door and opened it wide, only barely glancing at Octavia, as her eyes found Clarke’s. 

Clarke who she was not meant to be falling for. 

Clarke who she already had fallen for.

She looked breathtaking, Lexa could have spent the rest of the evening doing nothing but drinking in everything that was Clarke, but she figured that would be less than desirable for the other girl so she shook her head in a slight daze and smiled at her date. 

“Hi” she breathed out in awe 

“Hey you” Clarke smiled back at her, and Lexa knew it was official. There was no way to deny it. Lexa liked her fiancé, in a way that was so much more than platonically. 

Lexa was snapped out of her staring by Octavia, who always seemed to be in the way of their moments. 

“Hi Octavia! Don’t you look delightful today! Thank you so much for getting my date here in one piece!” Octavia beamed out in a falsified high pitched voice that kind of reminded the girls of Alexis Piston, 

“Hey, O “Lexa smiled at her, “You are looking lovely as always” 

Octavia just rolled her eyes and walked through the open doorway, quickly finding Raven sat on the couch and sitting down next to her friend. She reached down and pulled Ravens bad leg until it was resting across Octavia’s own, and begin a gentle massage around the edges of the brace. 

Clarke stood in the entrance still, shyly tucking a piece of her hair behind an ear and ducking her head under Lexas gaze. Not having a direct line of sight to her eyes Lexa was snapped out of her gazing. 

“Come inside, It’s not much but its home” She gestured inside, and Clarke nodded and walked past her, but as she did, Lexa quickly reached out and held onto her arm, stopping her in her tracks. 

“You look beautiful Clarke” she told her quietly. Clarke gave her a stunning smile.

“Oh this old thing, I just threw it on” she laughed, cringing slightly as Octavia and Raven yelled out in unison from the next room. 

“LIES”

Lexa just chuckled and let go of Clarkes arm, shutting the door and guiding her through to the room where the other two girls were sat.  
Clarke looked at her two friends sat on the couch expectantly waiting for them to get up and leave but neither made any effort to move. 

“Well O, Rae, thanks for sorting us out, I think we got it from here…” She looked over to Lexa who smiled and nodded at her. “Yeah I think we got it now, so if you guys want to like…..leave anytime” Clarke gesture to the door as Raven gasped and held a hand dramatically over her heart. 

“My frail heart, my poor complexion, the lady doth not want us” she wailed, and Octavia immediately took up the call, draping herself dramatically over Raven.

“How should we go on knowing that our presence is not needed by the fair haired girl and her Madame”

Clarke looked at Lexa, silently urging her to help get rid of her two roommates but no help came from the tall girl, who instead remained in the corner of the room chuckling quietly to herself at the duo’s antics. 

“I suppose we should wait in the car O” Raven sighed at the two love birds. Stretching like a cat, and thanking Octavia for easing the soreness in her leg with a quick head pat, Raven moved to a standing position. 

“I think the children are embarrassed by us” Octavia stage whispered 

“I think you might be right”

“Come Lady Octavia, we must not stay where we are not wanted” Raven proclaimed grandly, reaching down for Octavia’s hand and pulling her to a standing position. 

“I feel the hot dagger of betrayal in my back” Octavia declared equally as dramatically. 

“You will rue the day you did not want us here” Raven announced as she and Octavia walked down the hallway

“Yes RUE” Octavia yelled behind her. 

“Hey O” 

“Yeah Rae” 

“What does Rue mean?” 

“No idea but it sounded fitting” 

“Ahh good, you will RUE this day Griffin! Woods!”

“RUUUUEEE”

Clarke and Lexa could hear the two girl’s voices all the way out the door and down the driveway, until they heard the car doors slam. 

“Your Raven insisted on driving us tonight” Lexa informed Clarke with her half smile. 

“She means well, I am sure” Clarke laughed quietly, shaking her head at her friends. 

“Let me tell you, your friends certainly are an experience” Lexa smiled from her corner. 

“Yeah, they are ridiculous, and childish and brilliant” Clarke smiled out the window in the direction of her two roommates.

“And I hope they told you more about tonight than they did me, I’ve barely even seen Raven today, and Octavia has told me nothing” Clarke told her

“Lucky for you, your friends must like me more, because I know exactly what’s happening” Lexa told her, pausing slightly – “to an extent, apparently the mystery of the whole thing is half the experience” Lexa put on her best Raven voice and Clarke laughed 

“You need to try a little more sarcastic narcissist vibe and you will have the Raven perfect” she suggested. 

Lexa nodded but didn’t continue the conversation, and Clarke felt her previous confidence drain away slowly, all the doubts she had from this morning creeping in. The idea of fake relationships and expectations hovered awkwardly in the back of her mind. And she didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Lexa was looking at her in her own way. The Lexa look. There was no other words for it, from the time that Clarke had been knocked over to now, Lexa had looked at her with indescribable feeling, and it made Clarke feel more than she knew she was allowed to. 

The two girls felt an awkwardness settle over them, both not wanting to overstep the boundaries of the other. 

“Okay, I am going to do something and I hope I am not overstepping” Clarke heard Lexa call out softly.

Clare turned to Lexa with a question on her lips but as she came face to face with the girl she realised that Lexa had suddenly appeared a lot closer than she was previously. And the question gracing her lips was lost to the feel of Lexa’s lips against her own. One of her hands gently reached up to cup Clarkes chin, tilting her up at an angle so the two girls could fit easily against each other. Clarke brought her arms up to rest on Lexas shoulders and wrap around the back of her head as she felt all her worries and insecurities drain out of her. She tightened her grip around Lexa, but she didn’t make a move to deepen the kiss and after a moment she stepped away from Clarke, leaving her feeling breathless. 

“I thought that usually happens at the end of the first date” Clare asked quietly, a small smile gracing her face as she lifted her hand to feel her lips where the pressure of Lexa had just been present. 

“I know, but we are anything but traditional” Lexa smiled at her. 

“Besides, I have been thinking of doing that since yesterday morning, and if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t have been able to focus all night” Lexa admitted quietly, a small blush rising along her neck and up her cheeks that showed Clarke she was being truthful. 

Clarke smiled at the words, and excitement flowed through her at the prospects of the fact that maybe Lexa wanted this to mean more than just ‘figuring out their story’ like she did. But then again, what if she didn’t. 

“And you can focus now?” Clarke smirked at her

“No, I think, now it’s worse,” 

And with the way that Lexa was looking at her, Clarke believed her. And that could be dangerous. Because what happens if Lexa is just giving them the best first date story for the news? Clarke heard Octavia’s reassurances in her mind though, and resolved to pretend that this was their first date, and that there was no higher purpose involved. 

Clarke made the half step forward that Lexa had moved back, and mirrored their previous position, holding one of her hands in the nape of Lexas neck, ignoring how the other girl seemed to tremble  
slightly at her touch and leaned up slightly to kiss her again. 

The kiss was everything and nothing all at the same time, they had had more passionate kisses when they had drunkenly made out on her own couch, they had had more grand kisses, the proposal saw to that, but this, was the first time both girls had decided to forget the rest of the world, and forget the reason they were here, forget the expectations placed on them, and forget what this might mean. 

Together both girls decided that this was the first kiss they were going to remember. 

When Clarke pulled away, Lexas eyes had stayed closed, and, Clarke noted with satisfaction, Lexas half smile had turned into a full blown grin. 

“Well how about we get this date moving, so that we can do that again?” Clarke smiled up at Lexa. 

“Yeah” Lexa nodded. “Let’s do that, right now!” And suddenly Clarke was being dragged down the hallway by a very excited Lexa “Let’s go on a date Clarke!” she beamed, much to the enjoyment of Clarke. 

“Okay, Lex, let’s go on a date” she smiled and let the younger girl drag her from the apartment with ease. 

Lexa reached Octavia’s car and opened the door for Clarke, who smiled gratefully, and as Lexa walked around to the other side, Raven and Octavia both turned to face Clarke with giant grins on their faces, giving her the thumbs up sign. 

“Way to go princess!” Raven crowed with excitement

“Nothing happened raven, calm your shit” Clarke laughed

“Oh yeah totally nothing” Octavia laughed gesturing towards the house, where a large double window that took up the span of the wall looked into the lounge room where Clarke and Lexa had just been. The lounge room that was clearly visible to anyone that happened to be parked in the driveway. 

Clarke groaned in exasperation. 

“Is nothing sacred from you two?” She grumbled, but a small smile was present on her face. 

Lexa got in the car at that point, and just looked confusedly from Clarke with an adorable frown adorning her face to the two girls in the front seat who were looking at the two of them with the biggest grins she had ever seen. 

“What did I miss?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't even started the date yet! i am sorry, the characters run away from me sometimes and like to do their own thing. It is coming soon.  
> Hope you like, as always your comments, general admonishments, or specific praises are eagerly sought after . 
> 
> Tumblr  
> http://beyondreason79.tumblr.com/


End file.
